Metaphorically Invisible
by Dobby's Socks
Summary: When Harry is taken from the ruins of his home, no one notices the baby alone in the rubble. Except the muggles, who put her in an orphanage, while the wizards think she's dead. Read the story of a girl who is overshadowed by her twin. She is Leila Potter. Now on 4th year!
1. Chapter 1: The Girl Who Lived

**Hey all! This is an old fic I tried to write, but now I have edited it and it is completely different. So I hope you enjoy! Oh, and to those who read my Tonks fic, I will update soon, but we have two computers and the one I have it on lost internet access so some people are coming to fix it on Tues. Thank you for reading!**

**Dobby's Polka-Dotted Sock**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter, I would be a rich, woman who lived in Scotland and everyone would adore me. Also, Dumbledore would NOT be gay, and Remus, Tonks, and Fred would not be dead, and if they were, I would at least give them a bloody better and more heroic death!!!**

**Chapter One:**

**The Girl Who Lived**

"Hagrid, you can't take Harry to the Dursley's. They're evil!" Sirius Black stood in the ruins of his best friends' home and begged the giant of a man before him, trying to blink away the tears threatening to run down his face as he held the small baby boy in his arms.

"Sirius, it's Dumbledore's orders. I've gotta take Harry. Please don't make this hard," Sirius sighed. He knew Dumbledore must think it would protect Harry, but he didn't know how. Trusting the older wizard, he gently handed the child over to Hagrid.

"Here, you can use my bike. Keep him safe Hagrid," and with that Sirius left, he had another friend he needed to check on, if he was still alive, and he could begin to see muggles making their way over. Hagrid took one last sweeping look over the area then got onto the black bike and revved the engine. It roared to life and took off into the night. The half-giant couldn't hear a wail over the deafening noise of another baby as she lay in the rubble, awoken from her sleep by the racket of the motorbike. Soon the muggles had arrived to see what had happened, and were shocked to see the demolished house. Once over the shock, they began to pick through the place looking for anything to tell what had taken place that night. One villager found the little girl.

"Look! I found a baby!" he called out. In seconds a crowd had gathered around the child. She lay unharmed except one scar on her forehead in the jagged shape of a lightning bolt. This baffled even the doctors and nurses around the town; surely the infant should have perished. The baby girl was taken to an orphanage in muggle London, and while glasses were being raised in the wizarding world and toasting Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, muggles were marveling over the story of the baby who would later be known as Leila Evans, The Girl Who Lived.

**So, how was it? I hope it got you guys interested, I thought it would be funny if the muggles had their own kind of thing going while the wizards were celebrating Harry. And I thought the chappie title was kind of amusing, too, because the first chapter title for the Harry Potter series is The Boy Who Lived. The next chappie will be much, much longer; this is sort of a prologue. Review!**

**Dobby's Polka-Dotted Sock**


	2. Chapter 2: An Attempt to Make Ammends

Hi again! I felt like writing a new chappie, probably because the last one was so short. Hope you find it funny.

**Chapter Two:**

**An Attempt to Make Amends**

_Two Years Later…_

Leila was bored. As most people know, three-year-olds get bored very easily. And three-year-olds-who-live-in-an-orphanage-where-none-of-the-kids-want-to-be-their-friend get bored extremely easily. That was why Leila was bored. There was nothing to do in the orphanage, and all the other children thought she was weird, but Leila had no idea why. She was a perfectly nice person; funny, smart, mischievous, kind, outgoing, and brave were among the few qualities she had. Nor was she ugly. Leila had long, straight, jet-black hair, freckles lightly dotting her face, bright hazel eyes, and a humongous smile. Of course, she also had, what the older children called, an "Ugly scar. Look's like lightning or something weird," which might have been a small reason why nobody liked her. Unfortunately for Leila, strange things sometimes occurred at the orphanage, and they happened whenever she was around; like the time when the big bully, Harvey, had been trying to beat up one of the other kids and she had run over. Then he was suddenly hanging by his underwear on the pole of the fence in the playground. Instead of treating her as a hero, they had been frightened, especially when she had said to the Misses that she didn't know how it had happened. So Leila was completely bored, but she didn't know that her life was about to change.

OoO

Vernon Dursley stormed into the kitchen of his home, Number 4, Privet Drive, with a wailing fat pink blob of a toddler in tow.

"That's it! I've had enough! That boy is going! I don't care about any letters some man sent us, or that he's our nephew! We are putting him in an orphanage somewhere this instant!" Petunia Dursley looked up from the food she was preparing for dinner and stared at her husband. He was in an uncontrollable rage, and it would be hard to calm him down.

"What has he done this time?" She asked with curiosity. Vernon jerked his thumb to the back door.

"Deflated Dudder's ball! It popped so loud as was sure the neighbors would come see, fortunately they didn't, it would have been hard to explain…" now he was rambling, and as he fretted and slowly became incoherent, a small boy slipped into the room. He had very messy, jet-black hair, pale cheeks, glasses that were broken from being punched to many times in the nose by Dudley, behind them were brilliant emerald eyes, and a scar on his forehead, shaped like a bolt of lightning. His name was Harry Potter, and he was very nervous. Petunia looked at him and her heart felt a pang of guilt as those green eyes, exactly like her sister's had been, stared back at her. She couldn't bear it, and looked back to Vernon.

"I'll go look somewhere," to which he grunted in reply. "Stay in your cupboard," she said strictly to Harry, who nodded and scurried off. She walked out the door, got into the car, and drove away towards London. Hopefully, she could just look around some places, then come back home and her husband would be calmed down enough that they could keep him. Petunia had two secrets. One was that her sister, Lily, had been a witch, and she herself had not, but had been jealous. They had grown to dislike each other, and Petunia had never gotten the chance to try and forgive and gain an understanding with her sister, for she had been murdered. That was why Harry had been left to them in the first place, though Petunia and Vernon had not told him this, they were planning to try and squash the magic out of him. The other secret was that she did not want to. She wished that she could be a kind, loving aunt that would make his life easier, instead she had to play along so that she did not loose her husband and child. So now she had made it her life's goal to secretly watch out for her nephew the best she could to try and make it up to the sister she had let down, but Vernon could never know, or he'd probably divorce her and take Dudley with him, and she couldn't bear to lose more of the little family that she had. Now she was in London, driving through the streets and scanning the buildings for an orphanage she could pop into for a while. Finally, she saw a rather small looking one on a side street and parked the car. Getting out, Petunia walked up the stone steps and rang the bell. After a couple minutes, the door was opened and out stepped a woman who looked rather frazzled.

"Yes?" she asked Petunia.

"Well, I was looking around at some orphanages and I decided to stop at this one," the lady that greeted her quickly straightened up and began to use a more business like manner. She let Petunia in and called the children down. As Petunia gazed on at the little line, she noticed most of the children were very young, about one or two, except one of them who was very short, but her face did not have the same baby-roundness. In fact, with a jolt, she realized she was looking at an exact replica of Harry only it was a girl and her eyes were hazel. She even had the same scar right on her forehead…

"How about we step into my office," the woman said, and Petunia followed her, not even noticing the woman was trying to get her to take a child. Once they were inside, she shut the door and showed Petunia to a seat. "Now, we have ten children right now, the poor things. There is Bridget, Bethany-" Petunia cut her off.

"What of that girl with the scar? How did she get it?" the woman sighed.

"You mean Leila? Oh, she didn't get it here; we would never hurt a kid like that. She had it when they brought her here; I remember it so well…It was Halloween night about two years ago. They said that in a town called Godric's Hollow," here Petunia's eyes widened. "There was a loud explosion over by one of the homes, smoke billowing up like a huge cloud, and when they came to check it out, the place was in ruins, but there she was, not a scratch on her, except that scar. It was a miracle she survived, unfortunately the kids here think she's strange, so she's a bit of an outcast, but we do the best we can…" the woman kept talking, but Petunia did not pay attention; she was looking out the open window of the office, and staring straight back at her was Leila, so much pain in her young face. Now the once older sister knew what she had to do, for her sister and for herself.

"How much would it be to take her home?" She asked. The other woman looked surprised.

"Oh, well, $100 dollars, do you really want her?" She wanted Leila to go to a good home, but she thought this woman had seemed pleasant enough. **(A/N: I really have no idea how much it would cost, so I picked that number. If you know, review and tell me, please.)**

"Yes, I do," Petunia stated firmly. The woman rummaged in her desk for a moment, then pulled out a few papers.

"Here, you need to fill out this paperwork first; I'll go get Leila," and she left out the door. Petunia was almost finished when she came back with the small child in tow.

OoO

Leila nervously stared at the tall, thin woman. She didn't know why someone would want her all of a sudden, and she wasn't sure what to expect. She put on a grin and said, "Hello, miss," the lady smiled back at her.

"Hello to you, too. I am happy to be bringing you home, and you will have my son and nephew to play with, so that won't be a problem," the woman signed the last paper and handed them over along with the money to the other woman. Then after saying good-bye and getting her very few belongings, which were just a couple pairs of clothes, and they got in the car. It was very nice and looked expensive. The two sat in a comfortable silence as they rode toward Leila's new home. Petunia feeling for once in her life, even though Vernon would throw a fit when they got home, at peace.

So, how'd you like? I hope I did a good job. I know it wasn't funny, but I wanted to shed some light on Petunia's character because she gets almost nothing in the books. I promise it will be funnier once Leila and Harry meet. Also, I wanted to add that I decided on the name Leila for two reasons. One, it isn't used a lot and I didn't want it to seem like I had stolen somebody's character. Two, I looked it up, and found out Leila means black or night, so it's kind of symbolic. Just thought that would be interesting. Thank you and review!

**Dobby's Polka-Dotted Sock**


	3. Chapter 3: A Not So Kind Welcome

**Hello once again! This will probably be the first chapter with humor in it, it's mostly from Leila's point of view and she and Harry will finally meet! What will they think of each other? Read on!**

**Dobby's Polka-Dotted Sock**

**Chapter Three:**

**A Not-So-Kind Welcome**

Leila got out of the car with her new guardian and saw a nice and neat little house that seemed almost identical to every other house on the street. It had the number four on the front wall and, upon standing in front of the door waiting for the woman who had taken her, saw a welcome mat on the ground. It stated:

_The Dursley Family Welcomes You_

_Vernon Petunia Dudley_

Petunia opened the door, and the pair stepped inside. The inside of the house seemed just as tidy as the outside, and had many pictures of three beaming people. She recognized Petunia in them and assumed the other two were her husband and son; both were very- to put it nicely **(A/N: Which they don't deserve. **) –plump. Just as she was staring around, the man she had seen in the photos came waddling into the hall.

"Petunia, I have decided that he doesn't have to go, so long as he stays in his cupboard for the rest of today…" he stopped talking when his eyes fell on Leila, and his face turned into one of shock. "Who's this?" Petunia put a hand on Leila's shoulder.

"Vernon, this is Leila. I adopted her," the shock on Vernon Dursley's face went to one of outrage.

"What? Why?! What made you even think of doing that? Couldn't you at least have called? No! We don't need her! Dudley is perfect, why do we need another child?" Petunia quietly told Leila to go up the stairs, where sounds of crashes and falling blocks could be heard. The sounds of Vernon's shouts followed her up the stairs as she climbed. So they didn't want her. She knew it had been too good to be true. Now she was going to have to go back. She stopped in the doorway and her mouth gaped as she saw a pink, chubby blob surrounded by toys of all shapes and sizes. He was playing with an airplane and crashing it into stacks of blocks. Leila decided to announce herself.

"Hi, can I play, too?" The boy that she thought was Dudley turned around. He too looked shocked at her appearance.

"Who are you?" He asked, rather rudely. She smiled. Leila prided herself on being able to say her name right. She loved to talk.

"I'm Leila, and your mum just adlop-adoped-a- well, she brought me her to live with you. Can I play?" Leila also loved toys, though she didn't have many. The orphanage went to the toy store down the street every Christmas and bought one toy for each child. Leila particularly liked stuffed animals, and had a dog, a stag or reindeer, and a wolf, but she liked other toys as well. Dudley meanwhile, looked ready to cry.

"No, don't touch my toys!" and he ran down the stairs wailing, "Mummy! Mummy! Why is she here?" Leila stood in shock. He had so many toys! Why wouldn't he share? Soon she was called back down by Petunia. Leila was very nervous; would she be allowed to stay? She came into the living room. Vernon addressed her.

"Um, Leila, we have decided to allow you to stay," relief ran through her body. "On a few circumstances," What did that mean? "You are to refer to Petunia and I as Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon. Second, leave Dudley's toys alone," Dudley grinned at this part, and Leila had the suspicion that he had put that in. "You will be sharing a room with Harry. Is that clear?"

"Yes Uncle Vernon," she said quickly. He seemed satisfied.

"Well, come along now," and he started to walk into the hall. Leila followed very confused. Who was Harry? He led her to a door that was under the stairs, a cupboard. When the door was opened, and Leila was shoved in with a, "Don't come out until we call you!" she found out just who Harry was. A small boy was sitting on a bed that took up almost all the space of the tiny room. He was very skinny, almost underfed, and…_He looks just like me!_ She thought to herself. All she would have to do would be to cut her hair and make it messy, wear glasses, and change her eyes to the color green somehow and they would be perfect look-a-likes. He had looked up at the sound of the door opening, with happiness on his face, but it was wiped away once the door slammed shut. Now he was staring at Leila with the same shock and confusion on his face that was on hers.

"Excuse me, but who are you?" It was very polite and nothing like the way Dudley had asked her, and she smiled again.

"I'm Leila, and I guess you're Harry?" he nodded. "I was just adopted by, I guess you're mum?" She ended as a question, for she severely doubted he was Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia's son, he looked nothing like either of them and he wasn't in any of the pictures in the house. It was like he didn't exist. To her surprise, he gave a short laugh, though it seemed like he didn't laugh often.

"No way, I'm their nephew, otherwise I'd probably be an identical blob to Dudley," They both snickered at this. Harry began to tell her what life was going to be like for her in Privet Drive, and it seemed pretty dismal.

"How do you survive?" Harry shrugged.

"All I know is I do, and that I'm a Potter, not a Dursley," he smiled, "You should be a Potter, too. You look just like me," She thought it over for a minute.

"Leila Potter. Hmmm…I like it!" She exclaimed suddenly. They both laughed again, and Leila knew she finally had a friend. No, not a friend, a brother.

OoO

That night, Leila tossed and turned on the floor of the cupboard. She and Harry had decided to take turns, and she had volunteered first. Now she lay on the dusty wood half-awake and half-asleep, having the strangest dream…

_She lay on the forest floor in the cold darkness, weak and hungry, nearly dead, but death could not overcome her, she would not let it. No, soon Nagini would be back with her supper. Oh, what a cursed life this was! She would see to it, the boy would die, and she would once more be the ruler of the world, the most feared sorcerer above all others. The Dark Lord Voldemort. She glanced upon her wretched form and what she saw made her scream._

And Leila awoke.

**Hey again! I know it wasn't too funny, especially putting the damper on the happy friendship with the scary dream, but the next chapter will take place during the summer before certain letters come for a Mr. H Potter…Review!**

**Dobby's Polka-Dotted Sock**


	4. Chapter 4: The Leaky Cauldron

**Hey, I have updated! (**_**finally**_**…) I hope it wasn't too long of a wait. I have decided on this chapter being right before Hogwarts, sorry if it seems like a lot of jumps, but the following chapters will be throughout the course of the year. **

**Just a little note, if you recognize any of the dialogue, it's from SS, or PS if you're from the UK, which makes you awesome! Honestly, I wish I lived there! Anyways, basically, it doesn't belong to me, I'll try not to use too much. Enjoy!**

**Chapter Four:**

**The Leaky Cauldron, That's in London**

Leila lay on the lumpy bed in the small, cramped cupboard, blissfully unaware of the artificial light shining through the space between door and floor in a peaceful slumber. Nighttime was Leila's favorite time because the Dursleys' were not there, and usually she and Harry were on their way to a magical place where they had fun and didn't get punished for doing any of the things the Dursleys' didn't want them to do. Of course, her least favorite time was fast approaching.

"Up! Get up! Now!" the sharp voice ripped through the lovely silence and was quickly followed by rapping on the door. Now Leila slowly opened her eyes with a groan as she heard an identical sound coming from the floor; Harry had woken up as well. As the two finished dressing, dust suddenly rained down from the ceiling and it seemed as though it was going to cave in on them by the looks of the shaking, groaning, and creaking of the stairs.

"Wake up! We're going to the zoo!" Leila and Harry rolled their eyes at each other as Harry opened the door. The two knew exactly what the other was thinking: Correction, Dudley. We're not going to the zoo. You, Uncle Vernon, and Aunt Petunia are. Now as Dudley came lumbering towards them, Leila piped up bravely, considering Leila was about half Dudley's size in bulk, and shorter than him, too.

"What's so great about the zoo? Besides, me and Harry aren't stupid, right?" She smiled at her 'twin'. Harry took his turn to retort.

"Yeah, when you celebrate birthdays you just work more after—"

"Get more wrinkles—"

"Stretch marks—"

"And you get fatter," Leila finished with a smirk. Dudley seemed to finally catch up with their switching routine and sneered, shoving them aside.

"Yeah, but I get presents. You're just jealous," and he made his way to the kitchen where he sat down at the table. Once Harry and Leila entered, Aunt Petunia ordered them to finish making breakfast.

"And don't burn anything! I want everything to be perfect for my little Duddy-kins special day!" She ended the last part sitting at her own place and patting Dudley on the head lovingly. Harry made a gagging motion to Leila and both smirked identically. When the two had finally finished making the meal, much to Uncle Vernon's impatience, Leila placed a large plate filled up to the edges with food (Which came in the contract of making Dudley and Uncle Vernon's breakfast, unless you wanted to be scolded.) in front of Dudley's plate and mocked pulling out a pad of paper and a pencil, poised to write.

"Now, would the birthday boy like vegetables as a side? We have the pea, corn, and lima bean special. Or perhaps the eggplant, spinach, and zucchini?" Uncle Vernon narrowed his piggy eyes and she quickly dashed away to get another plate of food for him, mostly to avoid being locked in the cupboard. After the meal, the group moved to the living room where dozens of presents sat decorated with extravagant wrapping paper and bows. The two Potter kids looked on in awe as they did every time Dudley's birthday or Christmas came around, but Dudley scrunched up and began ranting about how he got two less presents than the last year.

"Gee, I don't know Dudley, maybe you miscounted," Harry commented, then grinned. "Since that's rather likely," As most could tell, the tension was often very thick in the Dursley household, and it was even worse when Aunt Petunia got the news that Mrs. Figg, the neighbor across the street, was unable to baby-sit Harry and Leila while the Dursleys' went out for the day. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon went back into the kitchen to discuss what they were going to do with the two children. Leila took out her frustration by glaring at Dudley.

"You're so spoiled! At least you get to celebrate a birthday! Gosh, I would do anything for at least one present every year! I don't even know when my birthday really is!" Which was true, though Harry and Leila wanted very much to be twins, that couldn't change the fact that Leila's true identity was unknown to them. Dudley scowled.

"You're not worth anything to get presents! Nobody loves you, so why should you get anything!" Harry quickly came to his friend's aid, anger seething through him.

"I love her! She's my best friend and I wish she were my sister! I'd much rather be related to her than you!" Leila and Harry glared at Dudley, who glowered back. Suddenly, Dudley was on the floor, yelling out in pain; the couch that had previously stood next to him had slid over and knocked him down. He wasn't really hurt, but it was enough to send his parents racing back into the room.

"What is it? What happened Diddy-kins?" Aunt Petunia almost wailed and threw herself onto her son. Dudley raised a chubby finger and pointed at Harry and Leila. Uncle Vernon saw the moved couch, and he roared.

"I've had enough! YOU HEAR ME?!?! OUT! GET OUT OF THIS HOUSE, AND STAY AWAY FROM MY FAMILY!!" The pair stood for a moment, shocked, then as one ran back to the cupboard to get away from the angry, purple face. They quickly grabbed clothes and their other small possessions, stuffing them into two rucksacks. Coming out of the cupboard, they saw that the Dursleys' were waiting at the front door, and Uncle Vernon opened the door without a word. The two stepped out into the fresh morning air, heard the door slam behind them, and took off running down street after street, away from Privet Drive. Soon they slowed to a walk and the reality of it seemed to sink in.

"Where are we going to stay?" Harry asked his companion. Leila shrugged.

"We could go to London, there's tons of homeless people there!" So the pair continued their journey. It was a couple days until they reached London; they walked during the day and slept under the open sky out of view of the road at night. Now Harry and Leila were starved and rather scared. What were they going to do now they had reached their destination? Get jobs? Before they could even think of answers to those pressing questions, a policeman spotted them.

"Hey, you two! Get over here!" Frightened, they raced off, the policeman in fast pursuit. They ran through the streets until they saw a store called The Leaky Cauldron. Not many people were in there, so Harry and Leila burst through the door and turned around at once to watch through the window as the officer looked this way and that, then he shrugged and walked back they way he'd come. Now they were out of trouble, the children turned around to see people staring at them and talking in hushed whispers. One man hunch-backed and smiling a toothless grin, shuffled forward from his place behind the bar and spoke.

"Hello, how may I help you," he looked ready to introduce himself, but stopped abruptly and stared at the two in shock. "My-my word! It's Harry Potter!" Immediately the inn fell silent, then broke out in murmurs of shock, several people staring closely at Harry, who was stunned. How did they all know his name?

"Mum!"

"Can you believe it?"

"Wow, I can see his scar!" Harry and Leila spotted a large group of people, mostly children, with red hair and freckles all whispering excitedly, except the woman of the group, and she quickly telling them to be quiet. She smiled warmly at the two. They also saw a man sitting in the corner of the bar. He looked older, tired, had brown-graying hair, and a few scars. The man stared intently at them, almost shocked, but delighted at the same time. Leila and Harry drew together and had a whispered conversation quickly.

"Who should we talk to?" Harry muttered out of the corner of his mouth.

"Redheads. They look friendly," So the two tentatively made their way over to the large family. The two youngest looking ones stared in shock as they came over, but the older of the two quickly recovered himself and put a smile on his face like his older brothers and mother were doing. When they reached them, the woman beamed kindly and said,

"Hello, dears. I'm Mrs. Weasley, and these are my sons. Percy," She pointed to the oldest, a boy with wire-rimmed glasses and a shiny badge with a P on it, and he immediately put out his hand to Harry.

"Harry Potter, it is such a pleasure. I can't tell you how delighted I am—" but he was cut off by another of the boys who shoved him aside and grinned at them.

"Hello, you're lucky we're here otherwise—" here an identical looking boy, probably the other's twin, cut in, and Harry and Leila recognized the double act being played, one they knew very well.

"You'd be listening to him talk all day. So he's Percy, and I'm Fred—" Here his twin broke in, with a look of mock shock on his face.

"George, how could you trick Harry Potter like that? And you know I'm Fred."

"No, I am!"

"I am!" They continued to bicker until Leila grinned and yelled out,

"You're both wrong, I'm Fred!" They both looked at her in surprise. One of them broke the short silence.

"No you're not! He's Fred!" he said, gesturing to his twin beside him who replied with a quick,

"Yeah!" Then, realization dawned on them they had ruined their own joke. They looked back at Leila who had a grin on her face.

"You know what George?" Fred asked. "I think I like her," George nodded.

"Me too. What's your name, kid?" Leila smiled.

"Leila. I don't know my last name,"

"Those are they best kind," Fred said, and Mrs. Weasley introduced her younger children, Ron and Ginny. Ron smiled and said hello, while Ginny blushed and mumbled something at her toes.

"I guess I'll be starting Hogwarts with you guys, then," Ron stated. Harry and Leila looked confused.

"Hogwarts?"

"That's the witchcraft wizardry school. You know, where you learn magic," Harry and Leila turned to each other even more bewildered. Before they could respond though, the man who had been sitting in the corner of the bar walked over.

"Excuse me, couldn't help overhearing, but what did you say your name was?" He asked Leila, with a look of disbelief and hope on his face.

"Um, Leila," she said, uncertain why he cared at all. He smiled brightly.

"That's--that's amazing! I can't believe it! How—" Mrs. Weasley cut across, seeming very confused.

"I'm sorry, Remus, but what is going on?" He looked up at her and explained.

"Of course, you wouldn't know, precious few did…See, my name is Remus Lupin, and I was a friend of you're father," he said, nodding to Harry and Leila. Their eyes widened.

"You knew my dad?" Harry asked, awestruck.

"And mine?" Leila added.

"Well, that's because they were the same person," Remus said. "At any rate," he continued as Harry and Leila grinned at each other. They really had been twins, all along. "The Potter's had two children, but then on that horrid night," Here, everyone looked sad and Mrs. Weasley gave the newly discovered twins a sympathetic look, though they didn't understand. "They never found her body, so everyone who knew she existed thought Leila here had been killed, or they didn't know she existed at all," Remus smiled down at them again.

"Man, that sucks, at least you're famous somehow Harry," Leila grumbled. How could people not know she existed? Harry just stuck out his tongue. "So what's with the warty-hogs thing, anyway?" The Weasley children laughed, all except Percy, who promptly puffed out his chest so they could see his badge clearly.

"It is not 'warty-hogs', Leila. It's Hogwarts, the school of witchcraft and wizardry in this area. I'm a prefect there," he pointed at his badge, while his siblings rolled their eyes. Harry's mouth fell open, and Leila felt herself do the same.

"There-there must be a mistake," he said and she nodded in agreement. "We can't do magic or anything, we're just two kids." Remus Lupin raised an eyebrow.

"Really?" He asked. "Tell me something. Have you ever done anything strange when you've been angry or scared?" The two looked at each other. Well, to be honest, there had been that time when they had turned their teacher's wig blue, and the time when they jumped onto the roof of the school, and when Harry had re-grown his hair overnight after a haircut, and the time when…ok, there were a lot of times. So they nodded. He smiled at them. "See, when a wizard or witch is young, they have small spurts of magic that they can't control, which is why they go to Hogwarts to learn how to use their magic." Leila for one still knew she was slightly confused.

"But, how do they do that?" She saw that everyone was still watching them with disbelief and awe on their faces. "And how come everyone knows Harry?" Remus sighed.

"I think I can get someone to answer your questions," he stepped toward the fireplace, taking some powder out of a flowerpot on the mantle piece, and threw it into the flames, which sprang up turning a bright emerald green. Both twins jumped in surprise. He stepped into the flames, which was amazing since he should've been burnt by them, and shouted what sounded like an address, though Leila hadn't really been paying attention as suddenly, he disappeared in a whoosh of flames. Leila and Harry's mouths fell open yet again.

"What happened to him? Did he just die?!" Leila shouted, but the Weasley children, except Percy again, laughed. Mrs. Weasley made them all be quiet.

"No, dear. He just used Floo Powder. It's a way wizards travel." Harry seemed stunned and Leila knew and was thinking what he was thinking: That was one risky way to travel. A few minutes later, Lupin reappeared and stepped out of the fireplace, as the flames immediately sprang up again as a different man appeared in the fireplace. He stepped out and walked over to the rather large group.

"Good afternoon, Mr. and Ms. Potter," stated Albus Dumbledore.

**Hope you liked! It's a rather long chapter, to make up for the wait. Review, please!**


	5. Chapter 5: Friends and Discoveries

**Hey, an update!! Yeah, I figured I should, so anyways time for Dumbledore to talk to them (just so there's no confusion, Harry and Leila don't know Dumbledore yet, I put the name in there cause it was pretty obvious it was him), and I'll add in more Ron in these chapters, I just thought that since Fred and George are more outgoing, they would have talked more when they met Harry and Leila. Hope you enjoy!!**

**Dobby's Polka-Dotted Sock**

"_Good afternoon, Mr. and Ms. Potter," stated Albus Dumbledore._

**Chapter Five:**

**Friends and Discoveries**

The group of children stared up at the man, while Remus walked over, brushing soot from his tattered robes and Mrs. Weasley quickly stood and greeted this eccentric looking person which strongly reminded Leila of what was her idea of wizards.

Percy whirled about and hissed, "Stop staring at the headmaster, it's not polite!" and then stood stock-still with his chest puffed out at full maximum so it looked as though he was trying to see how large it would expand. Meanwhile, the older wizard was looking down his crooked nose at the children.

"It is a pleasure to see you, Harry Potter, and also to see you alive and well, Leila." The man turned his attention back to the adults, and Leila scrunched up her nose slightly. It was getting a little annoying, everyone referring to Harry first, and almost adding Leila as an after-thought. She focused in on what the three grownups were talking about.

"And they have no idea even what Hogwarts is!" Mrs. Weasley was saying while shaking her head. "It seems like they don't even know anything about our world at all!"

The tall man nodded solemnly, as Lupin interjected, "I thought their relatives were supposed to tell them everything?" Harry and Leila looked at each other in surprise. The Dursley's had known about magic? Then, the man beckoned over the bartender.

"Tom? A private parlor for my guests and I if you please?" he inquired pleasantly. Tom the bartender nodded, and shuffled away, leading them up a flight of stairs, down a hall, and into a room. It had a few sofas and chairs, with a grand fireplace, majestic drapes and portraits, along with a small table in the center. Tom shuffled back out with a bow and wave at the children. Leila sat down on a sofa, having to squish in beside Harry who was sitting next to Ron. The twins sat on a couch on either side of Percy, who looked a little uncomfortable with this arrangement. Mrs. Weasley and Lupin sat in chairs, with Ginny on her mother's lap, as there wasn't much room left. "Now," said the man, who remained standing, "we're all settled, so I suppose I should introduce myself." He smiled briefly at Harry and Leila and continued. "My name is Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts. You may refer to me as Professor if you wish."

"Wow," Leila whispered to Harry. "He has a lot of middle names." They both tried to keep straight faces as Dumbledore reached into his pocket and pulled out…a stick. That was a little confusing. With a wave of the stick suddenly a revolving tea tray appeared in the air, complete with teapot, cups, a sugar bowl, and a saucer of cream. It landed gently on the table along with a plate of cookies. **(A/N: Biscuits, whatever you want to call them. I don't really care.)** After waving his apparently magical stick a second time, the teapot poured tea into each cup by itself. Leila blinked and shook her head, opening her eyes to see the tea was still in the cups. Harry was staring at it wide-eyed in shock.

"Whoa," they both said at the same time. Dumbledore smiled, his eyes twinkling.

"I believe this is rather new to you?" he questioned politely. Both nodded, still in awe of what they had seen. Apparently, the Weasley children were quite used to these types of feats as Percy was already pouring some cream in his cup and Fred and George were fighting over the sugar bowl.

"I want the sugar!"

"No me!"

Dumbledore raised his hand and the set the bowl down on the table, and then began spooning huge amounts of sugar into their cups.

"Stop it!" Their mother hissed, and placed their hands in their laps. Dumbledore waited until he had complete silence (which didn't take long, he's Dumbledore for goodness sake people) and took a breath.

"Now, I assume that you do not know what happened to your parents when you were young children?"

"Yeah we do," Harry interrupted, "Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia said they died in a car crash." As soon as he said this Lupin seemed to look livid and Mrs. Weasley shocked.

"A car crash?" the woman said.

"How could they?" Lupin was saying rather angrily. Dumbledore raised his hands again. Silence fell.

"As you may have guessed by now, that is not the case. Your parents died fighting the Dark Lord Voldemort." A shiver seemed to run through the group. Ginny looked completely terrified.

"What? What's the matter? All he said was Voldemort. I think the name's rather silly, really." Leila said, ignoring the flinches or jumps of the others, excluding Dumbledore and Lupin.

"Don't say the name!" Percy hissed fearfully.

"There's hardly anything funny about it," Lupin said seriously.

"Are parents were…killed?" Harry asked quietly. Dumbledore nodded somberly.

"Why?" Leila asked equally as quiet. The truth seemed to be slowly leaking into her brain. All this time she had thought her parents' deaths were accident when it had really been murder.

"You see, about eleven years ago, Lord Voldemort was a very powerful wizard with many followers at his disposal. There were others, though, that objected to his methods of killing and torturing muggles. Your parents were among them."

Harry interrupted the old wizard. "What are muggles?"

"Muggles are people unable to do magic," Mrs. Weasley supplied.

"So he just killed them?" Leila asked, shocked. Just a few days ago the most they had had to worry about was getting locked in their cupboard.

"Yes." Dumbledore said, and they saw the sadness in his brilliant blue eyes. "And those who resisted him as well. On the night of Halloween ten years ago, he came to your home and killed your parents. I do not mean to seem cold," he said as both of them stared in horror at him, "but there is hardly any other way to say it; we must face challenges bravely." They nodded, but Leila distinctly heard Mrs. Weasley give a teary sniffle. "When he approached the crib in which you both lay, he attempted to kill you as well, but somehow you did not die and the curse rebounded upon him, ripping him from his body, and leaving you with the scars there on your head." He gestured at the lightning scars on each of the foreheads of the two. Leila reached up and touched the scar, Harry doing the same next to her. It seemed like her old life was so normal before now.

"So…you're saying we're famous and we can do magic?" Harry asked slowly, seeming to be trying to wrap his head around it.

"Yes. Your aunt and uncle do not approve of magic or similar things and so I believe they were attempting to somehow not let your powers develop."

"Meanies," Leila muttered sulkily. Lupin seemed to be trying not to laugh at that comment.

"Yes, I suppose so," Dumbledore admitted. "Now the question is where you shall be staying for the rest of the summer, but that shall be decided later. I must be off and I'm sure you will all need to be shopping, mostly for school supplies." Here he nodded at Molly. "Good day." With that he stood and swept from the room.

"Well, he is right. I suppose…if you would like to come with us Remus?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"Uh, well, if that's alright with you, Molly," he replied.

"Of course, well we best be off." Ginny jumped off her mother's lap and her mother took her hand. The large group left the room, walking down the stairs. First was Mrs. Weasley with Ginny, the Percy, Fred and George who seemed to be attempting to steal the prefect's badge off their brother's head, next were Harry and Ron chatting to each other, then Leila, and Lupin brought up the rear. It was a strange and not on the whole a pleasant experience. She tried to get next to Harry, but the staircase was to narrow and he and Ron didn't seem to be paying attention her either. Then when they went out to the backyard of the pub and into Diagon Alley-- which was an amazing magical display. Leila watched with her mouth hung open as the brick moved aside so they could walk into the crowded hidden street --the street was to busy and full of people to get beside her twin. Leila felt almost empty or out of place, she always stood next to Harry and talked to him. Finally she stopped altogether. She felt a hand placed on her shoulder and she looked up into the kind scarred face of Remus Lupin.

"Something the matter?" he asked.

She shrugged. "I guess it doesn't really matter, but golly Mr. Lupin, I just feel lonely. Harry always walks with me. We're unseparable."

"I used to feel the same way sometimes," he told her as the walked behind the group. "Your father and…a friend of his were like that to. But then I'd remember how nice they always were to me. They didn't always hang out by themselves, though. I'm sure Harry just wants to get to know a boy his age, they'll be going to Hogwarts together at any rate. Ron probably will talk to you too, he's a nice kid from what I see, all Weasleys are. And I believe the correct term is _in_separable." He gave her a slight grin as they entered Flourish and Blotts.

"Gee, you're smart Mr. Lupin," Leila said.

"Alright now," Mrs. Weasley was saying. "Harry, Leila, Dumbledore told me to put you're books and other supplies on hold, and he'll send someone with the key to your vault at Gringotts later to buy them. Now we'll just buy the rest of you your things." The last part she addressed to her children, who were scrambling around the store like excited squirrels, except for Ginny, who stayed with her mother, and Percy, who was standing in the store looking important.

"I think Ginny's to young to go to Hogwarts," Lupin said in explanation to Leila's curious glance at the small redheaded girl. Mrs. Weasley went towards the back where a section of books were labeled 'Used'. "The Weasleys don't have a lot of money," he said quietly before Leila could loudly ask her question. "But they're some of the nicest people around." Leila nodded. In the half-hour of knowing them the Weasleys did seem very nice.

In no time, it seemed that the school shopping was done and they stood within the Leaky Cauldron. "Well," Lupin stated, "I suppose I should be going." Leila looked up in confusion.

"Why?" she asked.

"I do have to go home, you know," he said with a wry smile.

"But, Mr. Lupin, can't I stay with you? For the rest of the summer? You know?" Lupin stared down at the young witch in mild surprise and confusion.

"Well," he finally said, "you see Leila, I can't take you to my place. I'm…too poor. Besides," he quickly added, seeing as the young girl was giving him the puppy dog eyes, "you'd like it much better at the Weasley's."

"But…you're my friend," she said quietly. It seemed to be causing Lupin some pain in leaving the girl, but he merely shook his head.

"We'll see each other again, I'm sure. It was wonderful getting to know you, Leila." With that, he shook her hand and walked over to Mrs. Weasley to tell her he was leaving. She nodded and he went and shook Harry's hand as well before exiting out the front door and into the busy London afternoon.

"Well then," Mrs. Weasley said. "I think we should be getting home. I hope you won't mind if it's a tad…cramped." The twins this time shook their heads; it didn't matter to them so long as they were not at the Dursley's. She showed them how to use Floo powder and had Percy go first as a demonstration. Leila went next. It was an odd sensation; she was spinning like a top and felt very warm. Finally she felt herself stop and being the klutz she was, tripped on the hearth and fell on her face. As she was checking to make sure her nose wasn't broken or something equally misfortunate, the fireplace came to life and someone stepped out. (She couldn't see who it was since she had her back to them, of course.) They walked around her and offered their hand. Satisfied that she hadn't damaged her nose, she took it and stood up, coming face-to-face with Ron.

"You ok?" he asked.

"Sure, I only tripped, you know," she replied with a grin.

"Just checking. So I guess you're going to be in my year," he acknowledged.

"Yep."

"So," he said as they moved aside and Harry sprung out of the fireplace (without tripping). "Harry said you two don't know what Quidditch is."

"Nope, never heard of it." She said.

"Well, just so you know, Fred and George say that if you don't know what Quidditch is at Hogwarts, you're considered a laughing-stock. I already told Harry about. Do you want to hear?"

Leila shrugged. "Eh, why not?" And she spent the next hour listening to Ron explain Quidditch which was apparently a sport played on flying brooms. Leila liked the concept of being able to fly especially. Lupin had been right; Ron was a pretty nice kid.

Soon, Mrs. Weasley assigned Leila and Harry their sleeping spaces. Harry would stay with Ron, and Leila was bunking with Ginny. She entered the room, finding Ginny putting away some laundry.

"Howdy," Leila said to the younger girl. Ginny's room was nice. It had a window with a view of the backyard and it was decorated with a couple posters of the Holy Head Harpies, a Quidditch team by the looks of it.

"Hi," Ginny said back, sitting down on her bed and Leila on her cot. "It's a little small, but it's ok," she amended, gesturing about her room.

"Are you kidding me? The cupboard under the stairs was _way_ smaller. And it had spiders." Leila said with a grin. Ginny's eyes grew wide.

"You slept in a cupboard?"

"Yeah, I shared it with Harry. And just to tell you, he snores!"

"But, he _is_ the Boy-Who-Lived," the young witch said, seeming to be in awe that Leila would dare insult him.

"So? I'm his twin, I'll say whatever I want," she said, jabbing a thumb at her chest. The two girls talked, Ginny telling her about what she'd heard about Hogwarts.

"I can't wait to go there!" she said energetically, just as Mrs. Weasley called them down to dinner, where Leila learned a valuable lesson.

Mrs. Weasley's cooking was the best in the world.

She also discovered that Ron, Fred, and George all shared her love for food. Of course, Leila was rather hungry after only having scraps of food the past week or so, and how could she resist the wonderful food prepared graciously by their hostess? Mr. Weasley was home now too, and he was delighted to find that Harry Potter and his twin Leila were staying at his house. Then he began to question them about things that were part of the everyday life of a muggle. Leila and Harry answered the best they could, while Mr. Weasley's children and wife rolled their eyes.

After dinner, Leila felt that life could hardly be better. She and Harry were free from the Dursleys, they were staying at a marvelous house, and both of them had made friends with several people. There was only one thing bothering her. Why was Harry the Boy-Who-Lived? She had lived too, hadn't she? It was unnerving how people would say they were happy she was alive, as if she was supposed to be dead. And how come they always talked to Harry first? Leila sighed and decided she was being ridiculous. Everything was already great enough; no one could have everything in life.

Now, more than ever, she wished her mother and father were still alive, especially now she knew what had really happened to them. Leila wanted someone she felt comfortable confiding in, and Harry wasn't an option, as he would just say she was being stupid. _'What's the matter with me?'_ she thought. _'I have to be tough. No sissy stuff for Leila Potter. If my parents aren't here to help, I'll just have to get by. Everything will be fine.'_

Still, she lay awake in her cot for a while afterward before finally drifting to sleep.

**I hope you guys liked. I made it kind of longer to make up for the wait. Now that school's out, I'll probably be able to update more. Yay no school!! Please review!**


	6. Chapter 6: To Hogwarts, To Hogwarts

**Ok, so….I feel terrible. To be honest, I was kind of considering just abandoning this story. But people seem to like it, so I'm going to do my best to continue it, and I still have a few ideas floating around in my brain. So, here's the update!**

**Dobby's Polka-Dotted Sock**

**Chapter Six:**

**To Hogwarts, To Hogwarts**

"Ron! Wait for me, mum told you too!" Ginny cried to her brother as he led the Potter twins up the hill by The Burrow. It was sunny with hardly a cloud, and just the slightest breeze swept their hair and clothes. Ron sighed, a little impatient, and waited as his sister ran up the path after them, bright hair fanning out behind her. She caught up, still panting for breath, and the four children continued.

"So what's up here?" Harry asked the red-haired boy. Ron shrugged.

"Not much, I just wanted to get out of the house before mum realized the garden needed de-gnoming again. It's got a nice view though."

"And the brook's just down on the other side" Ginny supplied, blushing as Harry turned to her.

"Cool," Leila said, averting attention from the star-struck girl. She felt bad for Ginny, because from her perspective, Harry wasn't that much to get worked up over. Sure, he was a really nice kid, and her brother, but that's what he was: a kid. Her brother thankfully didn't seem to think much of his fame at all, probably because he didn't want to act like Dudley. Though it had been miserable there, living with the Dursleys was very good at teaching a person how _not_ to act.

They reached the top, and Ron was proven right. Leila could see The Burrow, the Weasley's makeshift Quidditch pitch, even little Ottery St. Catchpole. It hit her then that this was the best she'd ever felt. She and Harry were staying with people that actually cared about them, they hardly did any work here, and there was plenty of food. Soon they would be going to a school where they could practice magic with other kids just like them. She and Harry grinned at each other before racing down the hill towards the brook, laughing and shoving. The other two followed quickly, and all four jumped in and splashed around in the water. That was until a small voice cut through the laughter.

"Oh, are you looking for Red-Ridged Falentins, too? I thought my hypothesis that they enjoyed violent waves was correct."

Leila and Harry whipped their heads around to spot the newcomer, while Ron and Ginny, unperturbed, simply replied with "Hullo Luna." Luna was a little girl looking to be Ginny's age with long blonde hair and large blue eyes that seemed to see everything and nothing at the same time. She smiled at them, and Leila noticed those eyes rest for a moment on her twin's scar.

"Oh, you _are_ real. Daddy will be so disappointed."

"S-sorry?" Harry choked out, clearly as confused as the rest were now. Even Ron and Ginny had their eyebrows raised, though it was obvious they knew the girl and were used to her strangeness.

"He thought you were a conspiracy. Something that the Ministry made up. You see, to be frank, it seems a little silly that You-Know-Who was defeated by a baby. Daddy was so sure that there was actually a large battle with many casualties, but that the Ministry covered it up by creating you. I guess I'll have to break the bad news to him, though." She actually looked rather put out, which Leila wasn't sure how to react to.

Harry was only able to come up with "I'm sorry that I'm…real?" This girl had thrown him quite off-balance, as he was reverting back to his quiet, extremely polite self. Before Leila and Harry had met, both had been rather shy children who actually would apologize for their existence. Those memories were ones they both tried not to look back on, and she was about to rise to her twin's defense when Luna cut her off.

"Oh it's alright. After all, nobody is responsible for being born," the girl now turned to Leila. "I'm not sure who you are, however." Again, her eyes flickered to the identical scar on Leila's forehead.

"I'm Leila Potter. We're twins," she said, gesturing between Harry and herself. Luna's eyes now lit up in excitement.

"Ooh, so there _is_ a conspiracy! They were just trying to hide _your_ existence! Daddy will be so thrilled to hear this! I'm afraid I'll have to be going now, this most certainly will make it into the next edition of _The Quibbler_! Goodbye!" And with that the blonde girl turned and raced up the next hill, occasionally stumbling in her large lime-green rain boots.

Harry and Leila turned as one to the youngest Weasley children, simply staring and waiting for an explanation.

"Oh, that's Luna Lovegood. She and her father live over the next hill or so," Ron informed them.

"Luna's my age," Ginny added, managing not to turn too red at the attention.

"Don't worry, she and her father are always like that, it's not because it's you," Ron finished. "Well, we should probably all head back to The Burrow, mum's probably got lunch ready." With that, all four turned and left for their own home, thoughts of food on their minds.

OoO

They made it to King's Cross with a little time to spare. Mrs. Weasley got them through, though at first the Potter twins balked at the idea of running through the barrier. They shouldn't have been so shocked though, Leila realized once they'd gotten their things on the train; they'd been living in a purely magical house for the last couple weeks. They said their farewells to Mrs. Weasley and Ginny, the former crushing them in a warm hug and the latter crying and wishing she was coming with them. So it was that they boarded the Hogwarts Express with promises of letters and toilet seat presents left behind in their place. Percy immediately went to sit with the other Prefects, while the red-haired twins went to see their friend Lee Jordan about a tarantula.

Harry, Ron, and Leila found their compartment again, and made themselves comfortable, as it was supposedly a long ride. Harry and Leila were introduced to proper Wizarding candy, for though Mrs. Weasley's cooking was excellent, there was no room on the Weasley family budget for expensive Chocolate Frogs or Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. They were munching happily when the door opened and a girl with bushy brown hair and rather large front teeth entered, a timid looking boy who still had a little baby fat behind her.

"Have any of you three seen a toad? Neville's lost his," said the girl, with a slight bossy air to her voice.

Harry and Ron shook their heads, and Leila answered vocally "No, we haven't. What's his name?"

The boy, obviously the Neville the girl referred to answered quietly, "Trevor. Oh, I do hope I find him." Harry and Leila looked over at Ron, who squirmed a bit before voicing the advice he'd given them about pets.

"Look Neville, maybe it's for the best. Toads aren't really the coolest pets, y'know?" But Neville looked rather distraught.

"But he was a gift from my family! I got him when my Hogwarts letter came!" He seemed really panicked. "None of my family thought I'd actually make it, so they were really proud. But's now I've lost him!"

"Maybe you just need to sit and think about where you last saw him for a minute," Harry offered. He, Ron, and Leila were all a little uncomfortable with the hysterical boy.

"I-I guess," said Neville, and he slumped into a chair, narrowly missing Scabbers, Ron's rat, who quickly scurried into the candy pile to hide, probably so he could fall asleep again.

"Very well," said the brown-haired girl, sitting opposite Neville. She studied each of them in turn, and of course her eyes landed on Harry's scar. "Holy Cricket! You're Harry Potter!" Harry scratched the back of his neck uncomfortably.

"Um, yeah, I am. Who are you?" It seemed the girl realized just then that she had yet to introduce herself.

"Oh, I'm Hermione Granger. I'm the first witch in my family, we were actually quite surprised when the letter came, but really, it explained so much. I'm ever so excited to learn about magic here, I've already practiced a lot of spells, like this one: _Occulous Reparo_!" She said this all very fast and in one breath, so that it was very sudden when Harry glasses appeared to fix themselves, with the aid of magic of course.

'_Wow,' _Leila thought, _'She's really talented. I haven't really looked through my books at all.'_ Were they supposed to? None of the Weasley's had mentioned anything about it, nor Remus, nor Dumbledore, and not the letter. She she the raised eyebrow that Ron was giving Hermione, and Leila realized that this girl was an overachiever based on his reaction. So she didn't have to worry, that was good.

"You two are?" Hermione questioned, breaking Leila out of her thoughts.

"Ron Weasley," the redhead supplied.

"Leila Potter," she said, and wasn't surprised when the other girl did a double take.

"Potter? But, that's not possible! All the books I read said that Harry Potter was the only one—"

"My twin exists, thank you," Harry said curtly, and Leila was grateful for his interference; she was getting tired of explaining to people. Hermione's mouth snapped shut, and a slightly awkward silence filled the compartment.

"Um, I think I remember where I left Trevor," Neville said nervously. "It was nice meeting you all," and he quickly left, Hermione taking her cue to leave as well.

"Well, that was weird," Ron said, shaking his head and grabbing another frog. They had just settled back into a regular conversation when the door slid open once again, this time revealing three boys. The two in back looked like thugs, oddly reminiscent of some of Dudley's friends back at the Dursley's. The boy in front was shorter and skinnier than them, with cold gray eyes, blond hair, and the rather pale face that had a constant pinched look.

"So," he drawled, surveying them all with a condescending gaze, "they say Harry Potter's on the train. I expect you're him."

"Um, yeah, I am," Harry repeated. It seemed to be his default answer, and Leila could tell he did not like the attention.

"Wait, how can you tell?" She blurted before thinking. "Did you search all the compartments and ask everyone or something?" The boy flushed a light pink for a moment, before regaining his composure and leveling her with a hard look.

"That's none of your concern. I am Draco Malfoy, and you are?"

"Leila Potter."

"What?" Either he couldn't hear, or he just couldn't believe it.

"I'm his twin," she said, jerking your thumb at Harry. Malfoy's eyes widened and he looked back and forth between the two black-haired children repeatedly. The goons in the back scratched their heads in confusion. Ron, who had been holding back his laughter throughout this whole exchange, accidentally let out a snort. Malfoy's eyes flashed and eagerly landed on his new target.

"Think this is funny, do you? I don't need to ask for your name; my father always said that Weasley's have red hair, hand-me-down robes, and more children than they can afford." Ron immediately scowled and looked like he was about to stand, but Harry cut him off.

"Look Malfoy, what do you want?" Her twin finally seemed to be gaining his normal temper on this train ride, and obviously felt the same as her: Malfoy was like Dudley. They didn't like Dudley, so they didn't like Malfoy either. The blond in question frowned at the tone, but managed a reply.

"Well you see, Potter, we've already finished our candy. But you've still got quite a bit left. I think we'll just take it, since it's not really meant for people like Weasley anyway. Crabbe, Goyle!" The two thug-like boys lumbered forward, and the Potter twins and Ron stood up to meet them. They weren't really sure what they were going to do, there was no way they could take Crabbe and Goyle down, but they didn't want to just sit there. Goyle reached into the candy, but then pulled his hand back, howling in pain and fright. Attached by the teeth to his finger was Scabbers. A brief scuffle ensued, with Goyle finally shaking the rat off, and the three boys fled, making quite the ruckus.

Of course, this drew the attention of Hermione Granger, who entered this time wearing the school uniform.

"What was that noise? Have you three been fighting?" She looked rather appalled by the idea.

"Nope, just Scabbers," Ron replied checking on the rat and finding that his pet had merely fallen back asleep.

"Well, you should probably get changed; I expect we'll be arriving soon. Leila, I can show you where the girl's room is on the train, we can leave the boys here."

"Um, right," Leila said, still not sure what to think of this girl. She grabbed her uniform and left the compartment. The two made their way down the corridor, in silence at first, before Leila attempted to start conversation. "Neville find his toad?"

"Oh, yes he did, actually. That really was a smart suggestion Harry made, I think Neville just panicked really. I've never had a pet, but I expect I'd be awfully worried if I lost it." Once again, the girl spoke in a rush, words tumbling out so fast that Leila could hardly catch them. Why was this girl acting like this? She didn't get it.

Leila changed in the bathroom, running into some other girls, a few who would be starting school with her. They all exchanged polite hellos, but she was soon back to the compartment with Harry and Ron. She felt most comfortable there.

A short while later, the train stopped, and they all stepped out into the night. Most of the students were heading up a path towards some carriages, but then a loud voice boomed, "Firs' years, this way! Firs' years over 'ere!" The largest man either of the twins had ever seen stood holding a lantern to their left. This was quite a feat, having grown up with Vernon and Dudley Dursley. However, this man was large mostly due to his height: he towered over all the students, including the seventh years. That probably made him good at gathering groups of people together, they could all see him. "Righ'! You lot jus' follow me, an no more'n four to a boat!" He led them down a path to a lake where a bunch of wooden boats sat waiting. Harry, Ron, and Leila boarded one, and pulled Neville into it as well as the boy seemed rather hesitant to get in one.

They rode across the lake and got their first view of Hogwarts: the castle was simply magnificent. Leila couldn't wait to get inside.

The boats stopped and they all got out, Hagrid leading them up to a set of large oak doors. He knocked and it echoed across the grounds. The door was then opened by a very severe looking woman with rectangular spectacles and graying hair pulled into a tight bun. The professor, Minerva McGonagall the Deputy Headmistress, led them away, and into an antechamber where they met the ghosts of Hogwarts and she explained the house system, which Harry and Leila already knew from Ron. After a bit, they were brought into the Great Hall.

It truly was breathing taking, with the hundreds of floating candles and the enchanted night sky above them. It was a little nerve-wracking, what with all the older students looking at them, but Leila saw the familiar red hair of the other Weasley boys grinning at them and felt a little reassured. She was even more so when the Sorting Hat informed them, through song, that all they needed to do was put him on and he'd do the rest. So she waited silently with the others while they were alphabetically sorted.

Hannah Abbot and Susan Bones, two girls she had met on her short trip down the train corridor, went to Hufflepuff, along with Ernie Macmillan and Justin Finch-Fletchly, among others. Hermione and Lavender Brown, Neville- who she learned had the last name Longbottom –and Seamus Finnegan were sent to Gryffindor. Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle were quickly sorted into Slytherin, which Ron claimed to be the house that turned out the most Dark Wizards. They were joined by Millicent Bulstrode and Pansy Parkinson, among other boys and girls. Then in a twist, two identical twins went to different houses, Parvati to Gryffindor and Padma to Ravenclaw which also received Terry Boot, Anthony Goldtein, and a few others. But what did that mean? She didn't want to be in a different house from Harry. And weren't houses supposed to be like your family? Suddenly—

"Potter, Harry."

The whispers began as Harry walked forward and sat, the hat slipping over his head. She realized with an odd lurch that she was next, and she found herself wishing she could just go quickly and have it done. But Harry was taking forever! This allowed the whispers and murmurs to continue the name "Harry Potter" flying back and forth so many times it made her head hurt. She couldn't tell what Harry was thinking, the hat covered his face. Finally, after much deliberation, it shouted one word: "GRYFFINDOR!"

The hat came off his face and Harry looked happy—and relieved. He headed over to the red and gold table which was giving the loudest applause any first year had received, the Weasley twins yelling "We got Potter! We got Potter!" And Leila knew that was where she wanted to go.

McGonagall waited for the noise to settle down before dropping the next bombshell. "Potter, Leila."

The whispers were even worse. "Did she say Potter?" "Yeah, she did!" "But there's only one Potter!" "Another Potter?" "When did that happen?"

She walked up to the stool, head down because she didn't want to look into their disbelieving faces. McGonagall effectively took away the girl's vision by dropping the hat on her head.

"_My, my,"_ the Sorting Hat said, _"Another Potter. This is the first time that's happened in a while. Twins, eh?"_

'_Yep, that's right.'_

"_Well then, let's get down to business. You've got quite the outgoing personality, not too bad of a mind either, but I don't think Ravenclaw's for you. A lot of loyalty for your twin, but…is this jealousy I detect?"_

'_No, no it's not,' _She firmly replied. She wasn't jealous, she just felt a little—

"_Overshadowed. That's perfectly natural, after all, it must be hard to be related to the Boy-Who-Lived. The fact you were presumed dead just adds to it. Perhaps Slytherin would be best for you—"_

'_What? No!'_ She thought worriedly. _'I don't want to go there, they're all evil gits!'_

"_Not everyone in Slytherin is evil, Ms. Potter, and not all in Gryffindor are good. If I send you to Gryffindor, that would be such a waste of your potential. Tell me, how will you show everyone you're just as important as your brother if you're in the same house? They'll look at the both of you and see only him!"_

'_It doesn't matter,'_ she replied quickly, she had to convince him! _'I don't want to be famous, and neither does Harry. We just want to be together.' _She thought she could almost hear the hat sigh, before it spoke back.

"_Very well, if that's your decision, Ms. Potter. I hope you'll somehow find a way to succeed in…_GRYFFINDOR!"

The hat was removed from her head and she looked up in time to see McGonagall offer her a slight smile. There was a slight pause, which made her feel a little uncomfortable before:

"We got Potter AGAIN!" The Weasley twins yelled, coming to her rescue, and Harry was the first to start clapping. Soon everyone else in Gryffindor joined in, and she rushed to sit next to Harry, giving Ron a thumbs up on the way. She spared a glance at the staff table to see Dumbledore and many of the other teachers clapping as well, but for some reason Hagrid's eyes looked a little wet. She wasn't sure why, there wasn't any reason for him to be crying, was there?

"What took you so long?" Harry asked her, curious.

"Um, not really sure, I think… he was just being dramatic," she said, not quite meeting Harry's eyes. She didn't want him to know that she'd almost gone to Slytherin because the Sorting Hat thought she was jealous. "You?"

"Same, he's really one for dramatics," Harry laughed a bit and gave her a smile, but it seemed….a little forced. Both turned away to watch the others be sorted, content but also a little uncomfortable. It was the first time the twins had ever lied to each other; ironically, it was about the same thing.

Ron also joined them in Gryffindor and once he sat down, the tense atmosphere dissolved. The last student, Blasie Zabini to Slytherin, was sorted, and Dumbledore stood to make an announcement. They were pretty basic rules that Percy had attempted to drill into their heads over the summer, aside from a new one: apparently, the third floor corridor on the right hand side was forbidden to all those who did not wish to suffer "a most painful death". That sort of killed the mood, most students unsure if the Headmaster was being serious.

Things brightened with the singing of the school song, though most of the teachers looked rather sour, and then the food appeared. There was everything there that could ever be desired, and they all lost no time in filling their plates. There was conversation intermixed with eating, Harry Ron and Leila learning from Percy who all the professors were. As their eyes slid from the turban-wearing Quirrell to the hook-nosed Severus Snape, both Harry and Leila winced: At the exact same moment, they had each felt a burning pain in their scar. They brushed it off, as hardly anyone had noticed, but looked at each other, silently questioning what that had been about.

Soon they were dismissed, and Percy led the first-year Gryffindors to their common room. Leila was beginning to wonder if they even had any other Prefects in Gryffindor or if Percy was just hogging the position. They passed through the portrait hole of the Pink (or Fat) Lady. The Gryffindor Common Room was excellent. It was warm and comfy looking, everything one could want in a home. The fireplace crackled merrily while pleasant conversation and laughter filled the air.

It was then that Percy led Harry and Ron away with the boys to their dormitory and pointed the girls towards theirs. Harry and Ron shrugged and muttered quick "G'night"'s at her before following the older boy. Leila sighed then turned to face her new dorm mates: Hermione Granger, Lavender Brown, and Parvati Patil.

"We should probably be going to bed. We'll need a full nights sleep for tomorrow's classes, and at any rate, Percy told us to go to our dorms anyway." Once again, Hermione took over. Leila saw Lavender and Parvati roll their eyes behind the bushy-haired girl's back, and Leila began to wonder what life would be like with these other girls as dorm mates.

They each chose a bed, and began unpacking a few things, Lavender and Parvati chatting to each other; it seemed they had met on the train and taken a liking to each other.

"Well," Hermione started after they all changed, "We should introduce ourselves properly. I'm Hermione Granger."

"Lavender Brown," the first girl said.

"Parvati Patil," said the second.

"I'm Leila Potter," she finished.

"We know," said Lavender, "It was kind of a shock."

"I'll say, I didn't know the Boy-Who-Lived had a sister," Parvati agreed.

"What's he like?" Lavender asked.

"Who?" said Leila.

"Harry Potter of course!" Parvati giggled. Oh, Leila supposed it had been a stupid question. She looked into their eager faces, even Hermione seeming interested.

"Well, he's ok. I mean, Harry's just kind of a boy, there's nothing that different between him and the others." This apparently hadn't been the expected response, as all three looked a little disappointed.

"Oh, then I guess," Parvati yawned, "I'll be getting to bed."

"That's right!" Hermione snapped back to her rigid self. "I'm ever so excited, but I need to rest, goodnight."

"See you in the morning," Lavender called over her shoulder before dropping into her four-poster and pulling shut the curtains.

"Goodnight," Leila said to the room that at first glance appeared completely empty. She then followed suit, climbing into her new bed and pulling the curtains closed around her, falling quickly to sleep after the long day.

**Whew, that took a lot of effort. I hope the long chapter kind of makes up for the long wait….ok I know it doesn't, but at least it's a long chapter, right? **

**Ok, time for IMPORTANT QUESTION, PLEASE READ: The thing is, there's not much I can really change in the first two books, as Voldemort needs to learn in the first one that he cannot touch Harry or Leila because of their mother's protection, and in the second one the diary Horcrux has to be destroyed. So really, I could add a few scenes, change a few minor things, but the end results will still be the same. We've all read stories like that, and they get kind of boring, personally I just skip through most of the basically from-the-text dialogue and look for the parts where the new character's inserted. That's no fun. The third book, PoA, is where things can start to get different, so what I want to know is this. Do you guys want me to go through the first and second books like normal, or should I skip to the beginning of the third? If it's the second option I'd give a summary on the last two years at the beginning of the next chapter. Please let me know in a review guys, because I'm writing this story for you so I want to do what you would prefer.**

**Thanks for keeping up with this story, even with me being a jerk for not updating. I've suddenly taken a re-interest in this, so it's become a much bigger priority, I'm going to try my hardest to finish. Don't give up on me yet!**

**Dobby's Polka-Dotted Sock**


	7. Chapter 7: 1st and 2nd

**Here we go with another chapter, which due to a clever suggestion made by iLuvTwiBoyz shall be a series of incidents throughout the two books, that appear in cannon but altered because of Leila's presence. Any recognizable content is from the books, but I'm not copying directly from the text, so it's not 100% perfect. Thanks for reading, and keep letting me know what you think!**

**Dobby's Polka-Dotted Sock**

**Chapter Seven:**

**1st and 2****nd**

1. Overview of Classes

Classes at Hogwarts went from interesting to strange to downright boring. She liked the wanded subjects such as Transfiguration and Charms, though Quirrell kind of sucked the life out of Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Herbology was fun in that you just got to mess around in the dirt, but History of Magic was hands down the slowest class of the day. The minutes until she dropped off into blissful unconsciousness were almost painful. Sure, their teacher was a ghost, but he had to be the dullest one in existence. Hermione Granger, easily the smartest student of their year, didn't seem to find that a sufficient excuse, and as Leila sat next to her, Harry pairing off with Ron, she often got poked in the side with a quill in order to wake up again. She realized the other girl meant well, but she was on the verge of poking her back in retaliation, childish as it sounded.

It wasn't as bad as Potions however, since Binns didn't mind if you were paying attention or not. Snape's personality was as greasy and foul as his hair. The Gryffindors couldn't tell who he hated more, Leila or Harry. On the first day he grilled them both on different questions that they were apparently supposed to know the answers to, but when the twins checked the book they realized that the information he had requested didn't show up until more than halfway through. That hadn't stopped the Potions Master from docking them each five points and deciding that they had let fame go to their heads. He really wasn't supporting the Sorting Hat's claim that not all Slytherins were evil.

2. The Flying Lesson

Another git from Slytherin, Draco Malfoy, had apparently decided that it was his mission to make their lives miserable now that they had been sorted into opposing houses. Nothing much came from this until the flying lesson with the Slytherins. She was really beginning to wonder why Gryffindor and Slytherin had so many classes together when the house rivalries were so well known. Poor Neville Longbottom became too nervous and hurt his wrist from a high fall. He was escorted to the Hospital Wing by Madam Hooch, and then Draco decided to be a moron.

The blond boy dashed forward and snatched up a familiar looking shiny object in the shape of a sphere.

"Looks like Longbottom dropped his Remembrall!" he and his goons, Crabbe and Goyle, laughed. No one else did.

"Give it here, Malfoy!" Harry said at her side. She was a little surprised; usually he didn't like that much attention, but perhaps Malfoy's bullying demeanor reminded him a little too much of Dudley.

The other pretended to think for a moment. "No, I don't think I will. I think I'll leave it somewhere a little harder to find. How about, up a tree?" And with a particularly awful smirk, he mounted the school broom he was holding and launched up into the air. The boy could fly, but seriously, was this supposed to be cunning at its best from Slytherin house? What if Madam Hooch came back outside, it wasn't like the infirmary was that far away.

"Oh please," she snorted, missing the fierce but quick argument behind her between Harry and Hermione. "Like anyone of us is going to be dumb enough to follow you. I don't fancy breaking my ne—" It was then that her twin shot off from beside her on his own broom. 'I stand corrected,' she thought irritably to herself.

She noticed the other students- mainly those from her own house –staring almost expectantly at her. "What?" She finally asked.

"Um, well, aren't you going to, that is," Seamus Finnegan began to stutter out, gesturing up towards the two in the air.

"Of course not. Maybe my idiot of a twin fancies spending the night next to Neville in the Hospital Wing, but I don't. I'm brave, not suicidal." Hermione nodded approvingly at her. She glanced back up to see Harry nearly plough into Malfoy, which would have hurt if the other hadn't dodged. "Oi! Idiot twin, you're getting the Remembrall back, not killing him!"

He grinned sheepishly down at her, and then turned his focus back to Malfoy. Leila, though originally worried about her twin being way up in the air, realized that for whatever reason, Harry would be fine. She supposed that one could be a natural at flying just like anything else. This thought allowed her to relax a little. That is, until Malfoy lobbed the Remembrall in a random direction and her brother went into a 50-foot dive for it.

Ron let out a surprised yell, a lot of girls gasped while Hermione had a vice-like grip on her arm. Leila herself was clutching at her face, eyes wide as saucers.

But somehow, Harry pulled out of it, not a scratch to be found on him. And what was more; the Remembrall was clutched safely in his right hand. The cheers of excitement were drowned out, however, as Professor McGonagall quickly escorted her twin inside, most assuredly to receive his punishment.

"She put you on the Gryffindor Quidditch team?" As Harry nodded later, Leila stuck a finger in each ear and made sure they were cleaned out. How in the world had her brother softened stone-cold Professor McGonagall?

3. The Duel

Draco Malfoy had obviously not been pleased by Harry's lack of punishment, because he confronted the twins and Ron at the Gryffindor table a few mornings after.

"Oh brilliant," Ron groaned as the blond boy made his approach, "now my breakfast is ruined."

"You've had seconds already, Ron, I'm sure you'll survive," Leila said with a grin at his eating habits.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" Harry had been nominated spokesman of the group, seeing as it obviously was him that Malfoy wished to speak to.

"I don't appreciate being made a fool in front of others, Potter," Malfoy began in a low voice. "But if you're really so brave, then maybe you'll accept a Wizard's Duel against me at midnight in the Trophy Room." The boy looked rather impressed with the idea, until Leila spoke before Ron could stop her.

"Wizard's Duel?" Malfoy rolled his eyes.

"We duel. With wands. Spells. You know, since we're _wizards_." He seemed to think her rather stupid, and then looked shocked when the girl burst into laughter.

"Er, you alright there, Leila?" Ron questioned, a little alarmed.

"What's so funny?" Harry asked, quirking an eyebrow at her. She tried to speak in between her laughter, but was interrupted by someone else.

"That's what I'd like to know, Potter," Professor McGonagall had arrived on the scene, clearly annoyed by the disturbance, and Malfoy paled. Before he could make his escape, Leila managed some words.

"Sorry, Professor- it's just- ha!- so funny really, Ma-Malfoy here- ha ha ha!—" she couldn't look at him without laughing harder, "He, well he- hilarious- he challenged my brother to a Wizard's Duel- haha! –and, I mean, honestly Professor, wha-what's he gonna do? Turn Harry's wand into a—" here she snorted, "a knitting needle? Haha! It'd probably do him good, least Harry'd have an actual- ha! –weapon he could use! Honestly, a Wizard's Duel- hahaha!" She couldn't say anymore, but it was enough for the Deputy Headmistress.

"Honestly, indeed. Mr. Malfoy, you, Professor Snape, and I will be having a long talk now. Come with me." And as Malfoy followed, shooting a murderous glare over his shoulder, Harry and Ron also began laughing as quiet as they could so as not to attract any more teacher's ire.

4. The Troll

"Come on, Hermione," Leila said, sitting with her back against the bathroom wall, "You can't hide in there forever. And we're missing the feast!"

"Y-you can go down if you w-want. I'm n-not hungry." The other spoke in between sniffles.

"Oh, you know I can't do that, you'll starve! And besides, crying isn't doing any good. To be fair, you were sort of making Ron feel pretty stupid in class, even if what he said was out of line."

"Y-you're just si-siding with him 'cos he's your f-friend!" The sobs became louder now. Not good.

"Hey, I thought I was your friend, too!" She said indignantly

"H-how can you be my f-friend when Harry and R-ron said those per-perfectly horrible things to me that night with the," here the girl gulped nervously, "tr-trap door?"

Harry, Ron, and Leila, having been egged on by Fred and George, had decided to go exploring the castle after curfew, but were forced to bring along a reproachful Hermione and a fresh from the Hospital Wing Neville when the Fat Lady left her portrait. They made a little too much noise and were almost caught by Filch, but found what they had thought was an empty room to hide in. The five soon realized, however, that the room was on the forbidden third floor corridor, and contained a giant three-headed dog. Hermione had noticed that it was standing on a trap door, and Harry believed it was hiding whatever had nearly been stolen from Gringotts.

"Right, well, you were sort of nagging them. Maybe if you tried to boss them around less they would be less rude back. And I am your friend; why else would I sit with you in every class, or do homework and study with you at the library."

"Pr-probably so you can c-copy my History of Magic n-notes," she was still crying a little, but quieter now, and Leila thought that maybe the other girl was joking with her now.

"As if, I pay attention to Binns," she declared untruthfully, "and stop stuttering so much, you sound like Quirrell." For that she earned a watery chuckle. She started to stand, thinking that maybe they could finally go eat when she realized something. A rather foul odor was clogging her nose; the smell had been building for awhile but slowly, and had gone unnoticed until it was unbearable. "Ugh, what is that smell!"

"I don't know," Hermione said, opening the stall door and peering out; her face a little red and puffy, but no worse for wear. "Do you hear something?"

She did: rhythmic thuds, like the sound of giant footsteps, making there slow way down the corridor. Hermione hid back inside the stall, having seen something out there Leila couldn't yet, and so she shrank against the wall, trying not to make noise.

But the large creature- _'Mountain Troll'_, she thought, remembering a picture in the DADA textbook –came into the small bathroom anyway. It looked, smelled, and was simply awful. Then she heard the pitter-patter of running footsteps, saw the door slam, complete with turning lock, and two familiar voices saying "Yes!"

In horror, she dashed past the monster and to the door, pulling on the knob for all she was worth "You stupid gits, you locked us in with the bloody troll! Oh, hell," The last part was quiet as she slapped a hand over her mouth too late, and the troll turned in the direction of her voice.

She and Hermione were sent fleeing all around the bathroom, trying to find some piece of cover. Dimly, she noticed the return of the two boys who had locked them into this nightmare, and Harry foolishly flinging himself at the troll. She managed to half lead, half drag Hermione across to Ron who pulled her up and followed Hermione's advice from Charms.

"_Wingardium Leviosa!_"

Hermione covered for all of them, and they managed to even win 15 House Points. But more importantly, they had gained a friend.

5. The Mirror of Erised

Harry had continued to sneak off the last three nights with the twin's new cloak to gaze into that magic mirror; both she and Ron knew it. And they didn't like it much either. It couldn't be helped, for Harry longed to see his parents, perhaps more strongly than Leila because he had always known they were his.

Enough was enough, however, and she had to stop him, it couldn't go on like this. So she wandered, starting as near the library as she dared, and hoped that she would somehow find her invisible twin before someone else found the very visible her. Miraculously, or perhaps magically, she stumbled upon the room and Harry, who was sitting contentedly in front of the mirror.

"Harry?"

The boy jumped, then turned toward her, glasses glinting in the sparse moonlight. He seemed relieved, as if suddenly realizing how easy it would be for someone to find him.

"Oh Leila, it's just you. What is it?" He smiled, and then patted the floor next to him, expecting her to sit. She didn't move and his smile faded a little.

"Harry, please come back to the common room. Ron and I, and Hermione if she were here, we worry about you. This mirror, we don't know where it's from, or how it's doing this, or anything!"

Harry frowned. "You don't get it Leila. I can see them. They're so _real_. You didn't look in the mirror the last time, you haven't seen mum and dad yet, so I don't expect you to understand." He began to turn away, to resume his stare, before Leila blurted,

"But what if I don't see them in the mirror?" He spun around again, clearly surprised and looked about to say something before she continued, in a quieter voice, "Please, Harry. Please stop coming here. It's not healthy, it can't be."

Wrinkled, yet gentle hands rested themselves on her shoulders, and a voice said, "Your sister is right, Harry. I do believe you've seen quite enough of the Mirror of Erised. After all, one should not waste their thoughts upon dashed dreams, but look towards what dreams they can make for themselves from their surroundings."

Professor Dumbledore explained to them the purpose of the Mirror, and that it would be moved. And afterward Harry was fine, just as always. And Leila tried to quash the uneasiness that plagued her about who would find their heart's desire reflected back at them next.

6. The Man With Two Faces

"Ron!" Hermione and Leila screamed as the white queen attacked. Harry checkmated the king, and the three friends ran to their fallen hero.

"Will he be ok?" Harry questioned anxiously.

"I-I think so, but one of us should probably stay with him and get him to Madam Pomfrey," Hermione replied. There was a pause.

"Hermione, you stay with Ron, you'll be able to get him past all the traps," Harry decided.

"Yeah, you'll be brilliant. Get a professor too if you can, thanks," She tried to smile but Ron's still form seemed to sap all the humor out of her.

"Right, a-and be careful, both of you!" She hugged them both, and them they continued through the next door only to find-

"You?" Harry exclaimed, shocked as Leila was to see Professor Quirrell standing before- yes, it was the Mirror of Erised.

A brief scuffle later and the twins were stood in front of the mirror, and Harry gave a rather bad lie of being given the House Cup.

"_He lies_." A disembodied voice spoke, and Quirrell decided to give them another chance, shoving Leila forward. She bumped against her brother, and she suddenly realized why he had had to come up with such a quick lie; somehow, looking into the mirror had somehow placed the Stone in his pocket.

"What do you see?" Quirrell demanded.

And so she described, "I'm sitting at the Gryffindor table with Harry and our friends, and we're eating and talking and—no one's staring." For she realized why the mirror would show this to her: It was all she really wanted.

At the instructions of his 'master' Quirrell slapped the 'silly girl' aside and turned his attention to Harry. There was nowhere for her brother to turn, the exit being blocked by fire conjured by the evil professor. But suddenly Quirrell gave a shout of pain; a red, angry boil had appeared on the palm of his hand which he had used to hit Leila. The twins locked eyes with each other for a moment, and then acted.

Harry sprang off the stairs toward Quirrell while Leila quickly regained her footing and joined him in the attack on Voldemort's host. Neither of them knew why, but it seemed that Quirrell would feel pain every time one of them touched him, and so they grabbed onto whatever piece of skin they could, while their screams mixed with his and Voldemort.

For whatever pain they inflicted on him, it came right back to them, and soon Leila could barely see straight. But it was worth it; the professor crumbled, Voldemort fled, and the stone was safe.

She felt more than saw Harry lean against her just as she did so to him. Each wrapped an arm around the other, and together they started their struggle up the stairs.

"He's…he's really dead, isn't he?" She finally said, not being able to keep it quiet in her head anymore.

"Yeah…was, well, do you think that was wrong of us?" He was as nervous as she, then.

"I dunno."

"I dunno either."

It was with much relief that they collapsed into the arms of Professor Dumbledore when he appeared at the top of the stairs.

7. Dobby

"Harry Potter must _not_ go back to Hogwarts!" The strange creature- House Elf, she reminded herself- insisted.

Folding her arms across her chest, Leila stared down at Dobby and asked one word. "Why?"

"There is a great danger! But Harry Potter will be safe here, at his home."

Harry gave a rather bitter laugh, and Leila fully agreed with the sentiment. "This is home? Not really, not here with the Dursley's and no letters from our so-called friends." Dobby seemed to look away nervously, and the twins quickly realized his guilt. Neither was very happy or willing to forgive.

"Well, i-if Harry Potter refuses to listen," Dobby seemed very scared to be defying the Great Harry Potter, "then Dobby must force his hand!" He made a run for the door, but Leila had snuck around behind him while Harry was purposefully holding his attention and she held on tight.

"Oh no you don't, we'll go to the wizarding authorities," It was out of her mouth before she could really think about it, and she glanced to Harry over the elf for help.

"Right, I mean, er…well we'll tell them about you coming here! Not everyone can have a House Elf named Dobby, can they?" She nodded appreciatively at his quick thinking.

Meanwhile, Dobby seemed to practically go white. "But, you can't! Harry Potter mustn't! If Harry Potter tells, then Dobby's master will know that Harry Potter knows! Miss Leila, please!" This House Elf really needed to stop referring to her brother by his full name in the third person all the time, it was becoming quite difficult to understand. Though he didn't seem to have much trouble shortening her name, Leila noted wryly.

She was able to get an agreement from Dobby to stop stealing their mail and stop watching them at Privet Drive. Leila had to do most of this, for when Harry tried to threaten the creature, he burst into tears. Once he was gone they immediately called Hermione and asked her to also send a message to Ron, apologizing for the problem. Of course, an anxious Ron and the twins showed up in a flying car before the letter reached him, but they were glad to be leaving the Dursley's at any rate.

"Happy Birthday, you two," Ron said and Leila, squished between the two boys and with Hedwig's cage crowding her lap, smiled back at him.

8. Polyjuice

"Do we really have to drink this?" Leila asked. Harry and Ron's faces clearly agreed with the sentiment.

"Yes," Hermione said, obviously having expected this, "If we really want to know if Malfoy's the Heir of Slytherin." So all four downed the horrid tasting drinks and the effects were instant. Both she and Harry grew- him more so than her -while Ron shrank. She felt her hair shorten and saw it turn to a dark brown. Her nose turned up of its own accord. Looking up she saw Pansy Parkinson staring back in the bathroom mirror. Beside her were Crabbe and Goyle. But where had Hermione gone?

"Hermione?" The three of them stood outside the stall she had hid in.

"Go! Just go, you're wasting time!" The newly transformed Slytherins shared a worried look, but headed off toward, hopefully, the Slytherin Common Room.

"Well that was bloody awful," Ron said after, as they ran into Moaning Myrtle's bathroom and quickly began to change.

"Yeah, we got nothing Hermione," Leila called to the other girl who appeared to still be hiding in the stall. Pulling off a too-small shoe, she hopped on one foot while fumbling for her own shoe on the ground. Ron threw an amused glance at her awkward dance to avoid touching the grimy bathroom with her bare foot while Harry made for the stall door and wrenched it open as he said,

"You can't keep hiding in there, Hermione, what- oh!"

Their friend was now a cat-girl.

9. Dueling Club

"Get away from him!" Harry tried to order the snake, and Leila could only hope it would work. And miraculously, the snake did turn away and look at Harry, until Snape managed to get around to vanishing it finally. She only noticed then that everyone, including the professors, was looking at Harry oddly.

"What are you playing at?" Justin said, with something like anger- or fear –in his eyes.

"What are _you_ playing at? He just saved you, you git!" She returned. Now the suspicious stares were directed at both of them. "What? He did, I heard him!" Harry seemed as confused as she, and Leila got on the platform and stood between Harry and the Hufflepuff who was still glaring at her twin. How dare he!

"That is quite enough," Snape's quiet yet commanding tone cut through the murmurs. "Regardless of Mr. Potter's intentions—"

She spun to face the detestable potions master. "Regardless! Harry would never attack Justin, he barely knows him! And what about your intentions, _sir_?" She sarcastically added the title.

"Leila, stop," Harry muttered in her ear, but she took no heed.

"I saw you, anyone did! You told Malfoy to set that snake on Harry, you wanted to hurt him—"

"Detention, Ms. Potter! And 20 points from Gryffindor!" Snape's black eyes flashed and she doubted anyone had ever seen him this angry. Furious, she still allowed Harry to lead her out of the Hall and away from the crowds.

'_So Harry and I can talk to snakes, big deal,'_ Leila thought angrily as she left her detention, overhearing the rumors that seemed to be flying up and down the corridors. Apparently if Pavarti's sister's roommate's acquaintance's best friend's crush Ernie Macmillan was to be believed, the Potter twins were Slytherin's Heirs, but only Leila knew and was using Harry as a mind slave. Her vehement defense of him at the Dueling Club was meant to throw off suspicion. And You-Know-Who had attacked their family to get rid of competition from her, but Harry had magically defended her and that was why they both lived.

Even though the Fred and George's attempts at levity cheered her up a bit, a few days later found her stomping grumpily through the portrait hole, regardless of what it probably looked like to others, and throwing herself on a sofa that a terrified first-year had just vacated.

Working on a Potion's Essay late into the night didn't help matters, and so Harry and Ron were met with a rather terse Leila Potter when they came rushing white-faced down to the common room.

"Leila, we- we know who opened the Chamber of Secrets!"

"Oh come off it, Ron, I'm not in the mood!"

"No, Leila," Harry interjected, "It was Hagrid. Hagrid did it."

"No!" She found herself saying. "What- how—_why_?" The boys sent her to get Hermione from the dormitory and they quickly explained what Harry had found out from the diary. Though it didn't sit right with any of them, they didn't know what else to think.

10. The Chamber

"Ron…" neither she nor Harry knew what to say to the distraught Weasley boy. Poor, poor Ginny. All of them felt they had failed the little girl. Leila felt even worse than the boys; she knew that Ron's sister looked up to her in a way that allowed her to actually be able to talk to the older girl, unlike her crush on Harry. But now…

"We should go talk to Lockhart. Tell him what we know," Harry decided quietly.

"But, how's that going to help? We all know he's an idiot."

"We've got to try, Leila. Come on, Ron, for Ginny." The Potters stood and Leila offered her hand to the redhead while Harry ran for his dorm to get the cloak. He took it, and soon all three were leaving through the portrait hole, no one really feeling up to trying to stop them.

"We should've known it would come down to this," Leila muttered to Ron, both pointing their wands threateningly at Lockhart as Harry led them toward Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.

After listening to Myrtle's- rather morbid –retelling of her death, they now knew that they had spent a month sitting right next to the entrance of the Chamber of Secrets. Together, Harry and Leila took a few tries opening it, Ron helpfully pointing out when they weren't actually using parseltongue. It was soon open, and down they went, Lockhart first. They hadn't anticipated his fake-fainting trick though, and stood, unsure of how to stop the fraud.

Ron's wand did it for them though, backfiring as usual, but causing a cave-in, trapping Harry and Leila on the side closest to the Chamber.

"Ron!" Harry called as they both coughed while the dust settled around them. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," they heard his muffled response. "What do we do?"

"Start moving the rocks, it'll take a little while though," Leila suggested.

"Then you two go on, Ginny can't wait," Ron instructed firmly.

"Alright," Harry agreed.

"We'll save her," Leila said. They had to.

On they went, until reaching yet another doorway. This time, Harry spoke the password and dashed in as soon as the door opened. Both were anxious to find Ginny and get her out of this place. She found herself staring at the giant carved face of what had to be Salazar Slytherin. By this time Harry had spotted Ginny and rushed to her side, trying in vain to wake her.

Somehow- and she stopped to rub her eyes just to make sure –an older boy in Slytherin robes who seemed to be there and yet not there appeared and walked toward Harry, Leila unnoticed. "She won't wake," He informed.

"Tom? Tom Riddle?" Harry asked, believing his eyes as much as Leila had.

_'Tom from the diary? But how?'_ None of it made sense. Tom went on to explain he was sort of a memory kept alive by someone writing in the diary, and that Ginny had poured some her soul into him. He was going to use her life force to bring himself back to life. And he had already used her to open and use the Chamber of Secrets.

It was then that Leila realized the wand Tom was toying with in his hands was familiar, because it was Harry's.

"Give my brother back his wand," She commanded, the echo of her voice sounding small in the huge Chamber. Still, it startled Tom slightly, and he backed away a few paces, looking around for the voice's owner. Seeing her walk slowly down the length of the Chamber toward them, wand pointed at Tom, the boy smirked.

"You must be Leila Potter, the sister of Harry Potter. You know, for months now I have been curious as to how you two escaped the clutches of the greatest wizard alive—"

"The greatest wizard alive is Albus Dumbledore," Harry cut across, not trusting the older boy anymore than his sister, and obviously angry about his stolen wand.

Tom's eyes seemed to flash red for a moment as he said, "Dumbledore has been driven out of this castle by the mere _memory_ of me! No, Harry Potter, the greatest wizard alive is Lord Voldemort," This was accompanied by a rather triumphant look.

"What do you care about Voldemort? He was after your time," Leila said, still not lowering her wand.

Tom actually chuckled. "Voldemort is my past, present, and future." Writing his full name in flames, Tom Marvolo Riddle, he rearranged the letters and Harry and Leila saw the terrible truth that had been staring right back at them in the face.

I AM LORD VOLDEMORT

"I think I'd like to see how you two do without your precious Dumbledore hear to save you, now that he's gone."

"He'll never be gone!" Harry said, and he sounded braver than Leila felt either of them had a right to be. "Not as long as there are those here that are still loyal to him!"

A burst of flame announced the arrival of Fawkes the Phoenix, carrying something in his talons, which he dropped in Harry's hands. It was the Sorting Hat.

This only served to amuse Tom- Voldemort –more. "This is what Dumbledore sends to his little heroes? A songbird, and an old hat." He turned to the statue of the former Hogwarts founder. "_Speak to me Slytherin; Greatest of the Hogwarts Four!_" The mouth opened and out came the Basilisk. Leila closed her eyes, though it made her feel more powerless, and reached out for Harry, meeting his hand halfway. "Don't get any ideas; the Basilisk only listens to me!" Tom told them gleefully. "_Kill the boy and girl!_" Harry and Leila ran blindly down the Chamber, but the Basilisk was quickly gaining. And then one or maybe both slipped on a puddle and down they went. Before they could get up however, they heard the Basilisk shrieking in what was undeniably pain, Tom yelling, "Get away! Get away you stupid bird!" and large droplets of hot liquid rained down.

Chancing a look both opened their eyes to see that they had been drenched in blood; Fawkes had blinded the Basilisk! But there wasn't the time for celebration, as Tom called the Basilisk back to its cause: "_Kill them! You can still smell them!_"

"We should split up!" Harry panted.

"Alright, you draw it off some ways and I'll get Ginny! Then we make a run for it out of this crazy Chamber and get some help!"

"We already _got_ help!" Harry reminded her, waving the Sorting Hat around.

"Sure, but my odds are in favor of the Basilisk against a singing hat!" She veered off right and Harry made a left, the Basilisk choosing to follow him as they had hoped. Doubling back, she bent to lift Ginny, but only managed to drag her a few centimeters when a jet of sickly green light zoomed over her head.

"Not so fast!" Tom seemed to be trying to decide whether to be amused or angry about how this battle was turning out. "So you chose to confuse my Basilisk, and leave him with only one target. But you forget; Lord Voldemort is just as, no, more deadly of an enemy. _Avada Kedavra_!" Leila dropped Ginny and dived, rolling and flinging the first spell to come to mind.

"_Rictumsempra_!" It flew right over his shoulder. Tom laughed.

"Pitiful, second year spells won't get you anywhere with me!" He sent another curse, and she dodged behind a statue. So they continued, she jumping and dodging, not quite trusting her shield spells, and trying any spell she could think of. He seemed to be playing with her, which was even worse in Leila's opinion, but she felt as though he was holding back for another reason.

It was as he lazily waved away another Jelly-Legs Jinx that she realized it. _'He's not at full strength yet! Keeping up the energy to fire all these curses at me must be tiring him out!'_

"There's one thing I would like to know before you both die down hear with Ginny," He said almost conversationally, but the look on his face seemed to say it was of utmost importance.

"What?" She panted, not really sure why she bothered, because it didn't seem he was waiting for an answer. The snake statue she'd been hiding behind shattered at the impact of his next spell and a gash seared across her shoulder. She sent a Leg-Locker back.

"You both are Parselmouths and you both have the same scar, so why is it that Ginny only wrote of Harry as The-Boy-Who-Lived? Are you not both survivors? That must be quite annoying for you, to have your fame hogged by your own twin."

"I don't care! No one knows what happened that night, and all I want is to get out of here alive with my brother and our friend!"

"So you don't think it was anything special that either of you did to defeat me? Well, I thought so. That settles everything quite nicely; Harry and Leila Potter are not special at all. Just two half-blooded, foolish children who think they can stand up to the might of Slytherin! Good-bye, Leila." But a flash of ruby on top of the statue of Slytherin's head caught both of their attentions as Harry unsheathed a sword from the Sorting Hat and stabbed it through the roof of the Basilisk's mouth.

"NO!" Both screamed for different reasons; Tom Riddle who watched his Basilisk collapse dead on the floor of the chamber, and Leila Potter who watched her twin slide down the statue in obvious pain with a Basilisk fang stuck in his arm.

"Harry!" She cried running forward to catch him, completely forgetting the duel. Riddle hadn't, though.

"_Expelliarmus_!" Her wand was torn from her hand and caught by Tom.

"So you defeated my Basilisk, only to slowly die from its poison while your beloved sister and I watch. I suppose I'll kill you after your brother dies tragically in your arms. How does it feel to know that there's nothing for you to do to help him?" Leila wished Harry would just lie down or something and not push himself, but he seemed intent on moving forward, so she guided him to Ginny where he finally sat.

"She's almost dead now," Tom said. "To think what damage can be caused by a simple diary, especially in the hands of a silly little girl. Farewell, Harry Potter. You'll be with your mudblood mother soon." Harry pressed something quietly into her hands; the Basilisk fang. Meanwhile he reached forward and slid the diary out from Ginny's cold arms.

"What are you doing?" Tom seemed almost fearful now, and with a tug on her arm from Harry, Leila suddenly realized what it was he wanted. Together they brought the fang down on the diary, dark ink instantly flowing from it like blood and Tom screamed in agony. He glowed brighter and brighter and then exploded and was gone.

"Wh-where am I?" Ginny's quiet voice asked as her eyes opened. She was fine then, but Leila couldn't focus on the younger girl yet.

"Harry- Harry, look at me. Don't do this, please!" She heard Ginny gasp in horror at the two of them.

"You're hurt!"

"No- no, just Harry," She shook her head, only serving to make herself dizzy for some reason.

"I know, but Leila, your shoulder!" It was then she noticed the throb in her shoulder and the warm blood still seeping from the wound. They were both dying.

"Oh," was all she could say, and then Harry spoke up.

"Ginny, get out of the Chamber, Ron's waiting for you and you can go get help. Don't…well, don't worry about us." He tried to smile, but it looked more like a grimace.

"But, Harry—!"

Before Ginny could continue, Fawkes descended at their feet and looked sadly at them.

"You were brilliant Fawkes," Harry said appreciatively, "We just weren't fast enough."

"But thanks anyway," Leila also smiled at the beautiful bird, but it still began to cry on Harry anyway. The strange thing was, the stab wound from the Basilisk fang began to disappear, and knew skin formed over, completely healed.

"Of course!" Harry said, sitting up straighter. "Phoenix's tears have healing powers! Thanks, Fawkes. Here, Leila," He helped his twin move forward and Fawkes cried on her shoulder. With a strange warming sensation that spread from her shoulder through the rest of her body, this wound also healed.

"I'm so sorry!" Ginny cried. "It was my fault this happened, I opened the Chamber, it was me!"

Harry and Leila shared a glance. "No it wasn't. Tom Riddle opened the Chamber," she said with a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry Ginny," Harry added. "It's over. It's only…a memory." The three children smiled at each other, then stood and left the Chamber of Secrets.

To say Mr. and Mrs. Weasley- not to mention the staff of Hogwarts –were relieved would have been a gross understatement. Hysterical, Mrs. Weasley crushed Ginny, and then Harry, Ron, and Leila, in an enormous hug. Though stifling, it was nice. After explaining their story and being awarded an obnoxiously high amount of House Points that guaranteed Gryffindor first place, Dumbledore asked to speak with the Potter twins.

"Something bothering you, Harry?" the headmaster asked.

"It's just- well, he said we were alike. Tom Riddle and I," this thought seemed to have been preying on her brother's mind.

"And do you believe that, Harry?"

"Well, we're both orphans and parselmouths- we even look alike!"

"Tom Riddle was in Slytherin and you were in Gryffindor—"

"But the Hat wanted to put me in Slytherin!" Harry blurted, and Leila turned a surprised look at him. He looked away, ashamed.

"It wanted to put me in Slytherin, too," She admitted quietly. Now it was Harry's turn to be the surprised one. Dumbledore chuckled.

"You see, Harry? Leila here is an orphan, a parselmouth, looks nearly identical to you, and was almost sorted into Slytherin House. Does that make her like Tom Riddle?"

"No, of course not!" Harry said, defending his sister and believing it. Dumbledore's eyes twinkled over his glasses and Leila raised an eyebrow at the boy. Harry had the decency to blush. "I guess that means I'm not like him, either."

"Exactly. It is our choices Harry, and not our abilities, that define us. Anything on your mind, Leila?" She hadn't expected the question, and so thought about anything that Tom Riddle had said to her in the Chamber.

"Er…well, he asked why I wasn't as famous as Harry, since I did the same thing?" It became more of a question at the end, and Harry also looked at the Headmaster questioningly.

"Well, I'm afraid that is more my error than anything else," the older man admitted. "Not much about your family was known before the attack, and when you weren't found, many assumed you dead or not even real. Forgive me for not having searched for you harder."

"No, no, it's not a problem or anything…I just remembered him saying it, that's all." It wasn't a problem. _'It's not.'_

"Of course," though something shone in Dumbledore's eyes all the same.

**So it took me a looong time to write this. It is also obnoxiously long in length so that might be why. After this, expect a more detailed account of Leila's life starting with the summer before 3****rd**** year. Thanks for reading!**


	8. Chapter 8: Old Friends Start the Year

**I got such a great response from that last chapter that I figured I'd start in on the next one now. So here we go with the third year!**

**Dobby's Polka-Dotted Sock**

**Chapter Eight:**

**Old Friends Start the New Year**

Harry and Leila went running as fast as they could out the door and down the street while dragging along their heavy Hogwarts trunks.

"Did you do that—"

"Was that me or you—"

They both stopped, panting, and continued a little slower now that they knew they weren't being chased by a livid Uncle Vernon. Neither of the twins seemed to know who exactly had blown up Aunt Marge like some kind of sick balloon, but the fact was that they had and it was unlikely they were ever going to be back at the Dursley's again after all the times they had been kicked out.

_'Fantastic, bloody fantastic,'_ Leila thought miserably, _'And we were so close, too! If only Aunt Marge wasn't such a—'_

"We should probably come up with a plan," Harry interrupted that particular train of thought. "I mean, we're not supposed to do magic outside of school. Do you think they'll come after us?"

"If they do, we don't want to be here. We'll have to get into London. It's not that long a journey." Here the siblings grinned in acknowledgement of their last trek to London which had resulted in them finding the Leaky Cauldron and first learning of magic. Of course, the Ministry of Magic hadn't been potentially sending people after them that time. Harry's eyes seemed to stop focusing on her and instead were gazing farther down the alley behind her. Slowly turning, Leila thought she saw a pair of luminous eyes staring at them, barely blinking, which belonged to some kind of animal, perhaps a large dog.

Reaching out a hand slowly, she started, "Hello—"

"Look out!" Harry pulled her back from the road as a large triple-decker purple bus blasted into being. Whatever the animal was, it had disappeared.

OoO

"So how was Egypt, Ron?" Leila asked as the tall boy showed her brother some photographs. Everything had turned out fine; they had accidentally called the Knight Bus, which took them to the Leaky Cauldron, and there they found out that the Ministry had indeed been searching for them, but out of worry for their safety. The escaped criminal they had seen on the television was actually a wizard, the first to escape Azkaban, Sirius Black. So, provided they kept to the Cauldron and Diagon Alley, they were allowed to do as they pleased, and had passed the time quite comfortably. To top it all off, the Weasleys had just arrived back from Egypt and were also staying at the Leaky Cauldron the last few days before school.

"Oh, it was bloody brilliant! Bill took us on all these wicked tours, and Fred and George nearly shut Percy in a tomb! He was lucky mum caught them, though."

"Well, maybe it's for the best. After all, what would Hogwarts do without its newest Head Boy?" Harry joked, and all three laughed.

"Thanks for the, er, Sneak-scoper-thing, by the way," Leila said, "We read about it maybe being faulty, so we stuffed in one of Uncle Vernon's old socks just in case it went off at the Dursley's."

"It's a Sneakoscope. We could test it out now, I don't think Fred and George are up to anything at the moment," Ron crossed to the door and shut it, just so as not to bother anyone else, and Harry removed the magic object from his trunk, pulled off the sock, and set it on the nightstand. Immediately it began to flash and whistle shrilly, so the twins quickly shoved it back in the sock and slammed the trunk shut on it.

The door opened and Fred and George peeked their heads in. "Everything alright?"

"Just testing the Sneakoscope. I guess Bill was right, it is faulty," Ron rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Pretty loud, too. I think it even woke Scabbers, and that's near impossible! Sorry about the gift, guys,"

"It's fine," Harry quickly reassured.

"Has Scabbers been feeling any better?" Leila asked, a little concerned for Ron's pet. Sure Scabbers didn't do much, but he had bit Goyle once, and that was more than enough.

"No, if anything, he's lost more weight. I can't tell what's wrong with him," Ron replied, downhearted.

More pet troubles arrived with Hermione's newest acquisition of a rather ugly ginger cat that Leila helped the other girl name Crookshanks. Crookshanks seemed intent on Scabbers, which only fueled the fires of Ron and Hermione's constant bickering. Even further, on a trip to retrieve the rat's new tonic for Ron, Harry and Leila overheard a rather disturbing conversation between Mr. and Mrs. Weasley about Sirius Black, who it turned out, was after Harry and maybe even Leila according to the Ministry.

It was a relief, therefore, to board the Hogwarts Express on the 1st of September, their destination being Hogwarts, largely regarded as the one place Black wouldn't dare try to approach.

"It looks like everywhere is full, so we'll have to just use this compartment I'm afraid," Hermione said, gesturing to the last compartment on the train, currently occupied by a very asleep someone, face obscured by a threadbare cloak.

"You sure we should go in there? He's asleep, and he doesn't look like a student, that's for sure," Ron pointed out.

"Well, it's the only place left, Ronald, and he's probably just a teacher or something," Hermione said, sliding open the door, and they passed through. Leila ended up squeezed between Ron and the mysterious sleeping man, as Harry was sitting on the other side of the compartment so he could brief them all on what the two of them had learned about Sirius Black. The sleeping man had his charms, as he quickly repelled a visit from Draco Malfoy, the other boy concluding as they had that he must be a teacher.

Hermione, glancing around, suddenly spotted something as she said, "You see, I was right! Professor R. J. Lupin. That's who he is." She smiled at having solved the little mystery, but the other three were too busy staring at each other in shock. It couldn't be…

"Mr. Lupin?" Leila asked, shaking the man slightly. He made a sound, seeming to slowly come awake, the cloak falling from his face. Yes, he looked older and more scarred than remembered, but there was no doubt it was kind Mr. Lupin, the friend of Harry and Leila's parents they had met only two years ago.

He looked around blearily for a moment, barely seeming to recognize any of the faces, but then passed a hand over his eyes, more aware now.

"Well, I'll be…" he muttered, staring at all of them.

"Mr. Lupin, what are you doing here?" Leila asked, grinning at the man.

"You're a teacher now?" Harry added, equally surprised yet happy at the change of events.

"Yes, yes I—but never mind that," he stood quickly shaking each of their hands, "Harry, Leila, Ron, my how you've all grown so much- has it really been just two years? Er, who's—"

"Hermione Granger," Harry introduced, and the new professor shook hands with Hermione as well, who for her part was very confused. They explained the meeting of Professor Lupin from two years prior, and quickly resumed conversation with the man.

"I'm afraid it hasn't been much of a life for me these past two years, I've been in and out of work so often. I truly am grateful to Albus for offering me the position as Defense teacher. But never mind that, how have you all been? What are your favorite subjects? What houses are you in?" And on the questions went. Lupin wanted to know everything, and no matter what response he received, he always seemed impressed- even proud. A warm feeling seemed to spread through Leila, not unlike the feeling of hearing a phoenix song.

But just as quickly, that feeling seemed to have been doused by ice water, the lights dying along with it as the train ground to a stop in the middle of nowhere. She thought she saw a terrible cloaked figure with a rotted hand slide open the door, but then it was like she was struggling through fog just to think, and there was nothing in front of her but this endless expanse of fog and despair. She was trying to think, trying to get away from the fog- she wanted to see –but it wouldn't stop. The screaming wouldn't stop. And it hurt, _'It __**hurts**__'_, because somewhere through the fog a woman was screaming, screaming, and she would never stop, she would never stop until Leila could find her, until she could struggle through the fog and find her- _'Save her, __**somebody!**__ I can't I can't, the fog's too strong!'_

And then black.

"Hey, Leila, wake up!" Ron's worried face swam into view right over her and she blinked into focus. He helped her sit up- somehow she had ended up on the compartment floor –and she looked around. Harry, also on the floor, was being handed a piece of chocolate from the Professor Lupin. Hermione was eating her own piece and checking on the animals in the compartment.

"Here, you two," Lupin said, handing them their own share, "It'll help make you feel better. If you don't mind, I'm going to go talk to the driver. I'll be back." And with that he vanished into the corridor.

"What _was_ that thing?" Harry asked, voicing the question most of them had.

"Dementor, it had to be," Ron said quietly. He bit into the chocolate and swallowed. "They guard Azkaban. Dad had to go there once about work, he said it was awful, like he'd never be happy again." That was certainly how Leila felt and she quickly bit into the chocolate, allowing it to begin warming her.

"But he didn't faint, did he?" Harry asked, turning a bit red.

"Well, no," Ron admitted, "But it's alright Harry, I almost wish I had blacked out, it was awful."

"Yeah, don't feel too bad," Leila said, patting his shoulder, "least you didn't hear some woman screaming her head off somewhere."

"But I did."

They locked eyes and could tell Ron and Hermione were looking at them oddly. No one else had heard her, then. Whoever 'she' was.

"Maybe they're looking for Sirius Black," Hermione suggested.

"Yeah, making sure he's not trying to sneak in under their noses or something. They're being pretty thorough about this; mind you I don't really like Dementors being here."

"I don't think anyone does," Harry returned.

They arrived at the castle, only for Harry, Leila, and Hermione to be swept away by McGonagall. Leila glanced back to see a slightly lost and put out Ron, who eventually wandered into the Great Hall hopefully finding someone. She felt a little bad that he had been left behind.

After an embarrassing five minutes where Madam Pomfrey fussed over them, they were allowed to wait in the corridor for Hermione who was speaking to Professor McGonagall about something.

"What do you think it's about?" Harry asked, jerking his thumb at the door.

"I dunno, maybe her schedule, you know she's taking every class?" Leila guessed.

"I know, she's bonkers! I'll probably struggle just with the classes I am taking," Harry shook his head at the thought of Hermione's crazy new course regimen.

"Well, you do Quidditch on top of all that, so no one's expecting anything from you what with Wood's obsession and all." Though both knew people did expect things from Harry. Great things, as Ollivander had put it once.

"Did you two wait for me? Thanks," Hermione said, coming out of the classroom.

"No problem, we should go back, Ron's all alone," Leila pointed out, and the three snuck into the Great Hall amid the applause for the Sorting Hat's latest song. She felt a little bad about missing it two years in a row, but she doubted the Hat cared that much.

"There you lot are, what did McGonagall want?" Ron asked and she felt grateful that he'd even saved seats for the three of them.

"Well," Harry said sitting down on the bench, "Pomfrey was being paranoid again and wanted to make sure that we were alright, you know," Ron nodded to show he understood, "And Hermione, er—"

"We were talking about my schedule," Hermione supplied, confirming the suspicion while she fiddled with her collar.

"Right, and I can't believe it, every class Hermione? That's mad! No one would dare, not even _Percy_!" Here the Head Boy, further up the table, turned sharply to them and whispered,

"No talking during the Sorting!"

Ron rolled his eyes, the Potter twins snickered, and Hermione had the decency to blush for the group, though she looked a tad amused as well.

The four of them clapped at the announcement of Lupin's new professor status, and he awarded them with a smile, while they managed to get all of Gryffindor house applauding for Hagrid's elevation to Care of Magical Creatures Professor.

"Brilliant!" Ron roared above the cheering, "Knew it was a good idea to take that class!"

They all grinned at each other, happy to be back at Hogwarts, and certain that the year would turn out even better than the last two.

**Ok, shorter, but I think that's a good stopping point for this chaper. The next one will get into classes, plus the infamous Dementor Quidditch game is coming up soon. And will Hermione be able to hide the secret of her crazy schedule from a friend who shares her dorm? Thanks for reading everyone, you truly keep this story going!**


	9. Chapter 9: The Reserve

**Your reviews are kind of making me addicted to this story. It won't leave me alone; I'm literally thinking about it all the time and dreaming up scenes in my sleep. But that's alright because it gives me ideas and more of a plot to flesh out and focus on. Usually when I start projects like this, I have the beginning and the end, but no way to get from A to B. However, now I have a lot of details for each year of Hogwarts. Thanks for reading and reviewing, everyone, I feel very grateful for your support.**

**Dobby's Polka-Dotted Sock**

**Chapter Nine:**

**The Reserve**

Hands down, Defense Against the Dark Arts was the new favorite class of the school. Sure, Malfoy and some of his group would occasionally make fun of Professor Lupin's wardrobe or the man's obvious lack of wealth, but for the most part, everyone was awed by the new teacher. And how could they not be? Professor Lupin was officially the coolest adult to walk the corridors of Hogwarts, just like Dumbledore was the strangest.

And when they weren't busy with school work, or were stuck with the first and second years when the other students went to Hogsmeade, Lupin was there with a kind word, and the occasional story about his times at Hogwarts with Harry and Leila's parents. He seemed to have a bit of a spotty memory however, as he would have trouble remembering the names of some of his fellow students. He would start a story by saying,

"One time, you father got what he felt was the most brilliant idea in his head of how to impress your mother. So he had, er…..a good friend of his bring Lily into the common room…"

But it didn't matter because Harry and Leila were enthralled. It was a nice thing to hear that your parents were 'good people', and the photo album Hagrid had gifted them with at the end of their first year was indispensable, but it was another thing entirely to hear about what it _was_ that they did; just their everyday lives, to _know_ what they were like and the things that happened to them within these very walls. When Professor Lupin spoke about Lily and James Potter, it was like they had come alive again.

There were sometimes when they would come to visit, only to find that the professor was out on business away from the castle, or that he was ill, or he was busy talking to Professor Snape as the other man sneered at them over a smoking goblet he then handed to the sickly man.

"I'm sure it's nothing Leila," Hermione said as they changed for bed, surrounded as she always was this year by the endless supply of text books and reference books.

"I know," the dark-haired girl admitted, frustrated still by their potions teacher, "But if whatever that drink is hurts him—"

"It won't," Hermione insisted as she pulled the curtains shut around her bed. "Now goodnight."

"Goodnight, Hermione," Leila muttered, knowing she wouldn't get a response from the girl, not even a yawn. It was eerie how quiet Hermione could be even as she kept studying behind that curtain, like she wasn't even breathing. Once or twice, Leila entertained the idea that Hermione had built a secret tunnel to the library and wasn't even in her bed. She ran the theory by the boys, which Ron found particularly funny.

Somehow the bushy haired witch was keeping up with and even enjoying the majority of her classes, the exception being Divination. While Leila wasn't going to publicly denounce Professor Trelawney as a fraud, it was quite clear that the woman was not suited to teach little children. She frightened Neville Longbottom into dropping his teacup so he would validate her prediction, she talked of the Inner Eye as though it came and went like the weather, and she smelled quite strongly of some type of alcoholic beverage, bringing back unpleasant memories of Aunt Marge and even a caretaker at the old orphanage.

Trelawney's specialty apparently was in predicting death, Harry was the popular test subject for her premonitions, with Leila being a close second. They had just begun studying tea leaves when she struck again.

"…so you're going to suffer, but you're going to be…happy about it," Ron finished up lamely as he placed Harry's teacup back on the little round table. The four friends shared bemused glances, and Hermione was reaching for Harry's cup to 'read' for herself, but was beat by their professor snatching it up to examine with her own eyes, magnified as they were by her glasses.

"Let's see, what have we…Oh!" The woman gave a sudden shriek and a shuddering gasp as she dropped the teacup in surprise. Leila reached out and grabbed it before it could shatter, feeling that enough glassware had been broken in the classroom already.

"What is it, Professor?" Lavender and Parvati were instantly by the woman's side, both with identical expressions of worry and awe.

"My dear," Trelawney whispered, completely ignoring her two protégés, "my-my dear boy, you have….The Grim."

Here, most of the class gave their own large gasps, before Harry sort of interrupted by asking, "What's 'The Grim'?" Hermione was rolling her eyes once again at their teacher, but the woman chose to ignore her non-believer as well.

"What is it? My boy, it is the worst omen! The person who sees The Grim will have terrible misfortune befall them! Those that have The Grim in their tea leaves will meet only with Death."

Leila stared into the cup, squinted, titled her head, and was tempted to start sifting the tea leaves around as she said, "Doesn't look much like a 'Grim' to me. What's it even supposed to be? A dark and ominous blob?" Ron couldn't contain a snort of laughter at that, but their professor seemed to take it as the sneeze that Ron used to cover it up.

"You caught it? Why would you do such a foolhardy thing! Its evil tidings will only latch themselves onto you if you take The Grim for your own!" Leila raised an eyebrow at the teacher's ranting, but placed the cup back on the table to appease her, for it calmed the woman immensely. Still, class was dismissed early so that Professor Trelawney could gaze into the Inner Eye to see what The Grim would truly mean for the Potters.

"Useless, and absolutely useless class!" Hermione fumed as they climbed down the many stairs. "What a _waste_ of time!"

"If you care about not wasting the daylight, Hermione, why don't you just drop the class?" Leila suggested.

"Yeah, no need to stress yourself over something you're not at all interested by," Harry agreed.

"Maybe it'd even make your schedule more, y'know, actually possible to follow?" Ron hinted. The red head had been trying to discover the 'secret' of Hermione's rather nonsensical schedule all year, but the other girl refused to tell.

Another 'waste of time' to Hermione was the sport Quidditch. Too bad for her, Harry and Ron were nearly as obsessed as Oliver Wood, the Gryffindor Captain, and Leila didn't mind one bit sitting up late and listening to them discuss different tactics and formations along with going to every game Harry played. Of course, if you were in Gryffindor and didn't go to see your team play, you were considered to be a traitor to the whole house unless you had a very good excuse. Even Percy Weasley, their very own Head Boy, was known to bet on the outcome of the matches, certain as everyone else was that Harry would catch the Golden Snitch.

The last couple years had met the excellent team with roadblocks on their way to the Quidditch Cup, but this year Wood was positive they would win and planned to make sure of it as it was his last year at Hogwarts. Therefore the team had even more practices than ever before. Leila, Ron, and Hermione would stay up late in order to help Harry finish his homework, although Hermione usually was also working on her own. Her brother didn't seem to mind the extra stress, for he was as determined as the rest of the team to win.

The flying conditions for Gryffindor's first game were the worst that Leila had yet to see, and hoped to ever see as it made watching the match miserable for one. She could barely see any of the players through the rain, and tried not to think of how cold Harry and the others were feeling.

But the more she tried not to think about it, the more it seemed to affect her. Soon she was so aware of the chilling wind that it raised goose bumps all up her skin, and she couldn't see anything through the thick fog that had rolled in, obscuring everything.

_'Fog…? No, no!'_

Distantly she could hear the beginnings of a woman's voice crying, pleading with someone, but she pushed it aside as best she could. "Hermione, Hermione!" She shouted over the wind, rain, and screaming, reaching blindly for her friend and shaking her.

"What, Leila not so loud in my ear!" Her voice was so far away, being drowned by a high-pitched, yet cold voice laughing.

"Hermione, I think Dementors are coming! I hear the woman screaming for help again and- and I can't see you!"

"Dementors? Hold on, Leila!"

She thought she heard the other girl telling Hagrid to get someone, Dumbledore maybe? A whistle blowing far away. And she drifted in between noise, trying not to fall into the fog for she felt she would drop as far down as the Quidditch stands, but there was a man's voice, a nice man speaking and what was he saying?

_"Lily! Take the twins and run, I'll hold him off!"_

That was nice of the man, wasn't it? But she felt her stomach lurch and her head began to hurt so much, as the crowd around her gave a collective scream.

Falling, falling….

She burst through the fog and pushed forward, gripping the stands as she screamed to the falling, falling boy.

"HARRY!"

A flash of light from a man on the ground- Dumbledore –and Harry slowed then stopped falling as the aged Headmaster turned his fury on the dark creatures in the air. Leila didn't care about that and quickly raced for the stairs flying down them so fast it was almost a surprise that her feet suddenly met with soggy ground. She shook it off and kept running for the locker room, so intent on getting to Harry she didn't even notice the icy feeling of the Dementors lifting from her chest as they were driven away.

"Just give us five minutes, Madam Hooch, Harry needs time to recover, regain his bearings—" Wood was pleading with the referee before being sharply cut off by the hospital matron.

"He needs _days_ of recovery in the Hospital Wing! Here boy, eat this," she gave Leila a large hunk of chocolate which the girl began feeding to the still very groggy Harry.

"But- the match!" Before Madam Pomfrey could round on the seventh year for his prioritizing, a prefect entered the locker room.

"Madam Pomfrey, some first years who feel ill have been escorted to the Hospital Wing." The nurse seemed torn, glancing at the ice-cold Harry propped up on a bench.

"Want…to play," He got out, holding his hands in front of him as his sister rubbed them between her own trying to warm his fingers.

Madam Pomfrey huffed. "Very well, you can stay here, but think wisely, Mr. Wood, about what's more important: The game, or your star player?" She swept out and Madam Hooch followed with the warning,

"Five minutes," hanging in the air.

"Well, what's the plan, Oliver?" Angelina Johnson demanded, "You have Harry here, but he can barely see his hand in front of his face, let alone the Snitch!"

"Why not just forfeit? Diggory nearly caught it anyway," Fred started.

"And we haven't got a reserve Seeker, let alone one as brilliant as Harry. You're just prolonging the inevitable," George finished.

"But- we can't- the Cup! Just- let me think," Wood managed, pacing nervously in the small space as the rain continued to hammer down.

"Ah-ah-ah!" Leila scolded, gently pushing Harry back down on the bench as he tried to stand. She started pulling his boots off, then the cap he wore to keep the wet tangled mess called his hair out of his eyes, and then his goggles, wiping them on her sleeve. "Sit down, Potter. I may not be Pomfrey, but I know you're not going to get very far on those legs." She brought the goggles up to her face to check for any smudge marks, but felt a strange prickling sensation on the back of her neck. Turning around with the goggle still up, she brought them down slowly making sure what she saw was the same; Oliver Wood staring at her with a strange smile spreading across his face.

"Oliver?" Katie Bell questioned the Quidditch Captain.

"That's it!" He proclaimed, smile turning to a triumphant beam.

"No, Oliver, no! It is _not_ perfect, it's insane!" Angelina yelled, seeming to have found where this was going.

"What?" Leila asked, wary of whatever idea this was.

"Harry's not fit to go out there," Oliver explained, "and we have no reserve Seeker." The others nodded, this having been established.

"Go on," Alicia Spinnet prompted.

"But," And here Oliver got that gleam in his eye again, "we do have a reserve _Harry_."

They all stared at her while it sank in.

"No!" Leila protested. "No bloody way! Just forfeit already!"

"No, you don't get it, it's perfect!" Oliver cheered. "All we have to do is just let everyone think that you're Harry and we can get back in there and play!"

"Until I make you lose, 'cos Harry might not have told you, but I've _never_ ridden a broom!"

"That's true," George verified. Leila had always spent the mock Quidditch games at the Burrow with Ginny, since the boys didn't allow their little sister to play.

"Well, don't sell her short, even if her height's questionable, dear brother," Fred interrupted, seeming to side with George. He probably just thought it would be funny to watch her fall for non-Dementor related reasons. "Harry is a natural flier; maybe his twin is the same."

"Exactly!" Oliver agreed. "Sure, the weather's downright awful, but no better way to learn how to fly! And Harry's got the best broom out of both these teams, safest too!"

She was ready to protest again when Harry tugged on her sleeve. "Leila, please?"

"Oh bloody hell, you're that desperate to win?" She asked him.

"Uh-huh."

She sighed, defeated. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but fine, I'll do it."

Wood practically cried for joy, the Chasers began looking hopeful, but the Weasley twins took no time to celebrate in order to start working on the disguise.

"Now they won't be seeing you up close," Fred said, circling round her.

"And the cap and those goggles will do a fine job covering up your hair and eyes," George followed his brother in their examination.

"Shame though, what a lovely hazel," Fred remarked, tilting her chin upward as his twin smirked. Leila simply arched an eyebrow until she was released.

"Harry's robes look like they'll fit you just fine height-wise." She was turned sharply around by Fred once more, who picked up his own commentary again while his eyes scrutinized her appearance.

"You can keep on the clothes underneath; I doubt the outer Quidditch robe will have any trouble hiding that non-existent chest of yours," he leered down at her while she returned with a scowl before pulling herself from his grasp.

"I got it; Hide my hair and eyes with the goggles and cap, put on the robe, and try not to fall to my death. Anything else?" She snapped as she grabbed the things needed while storming to the girl's showers.

"What about catching the Snitch?" Olivier called unhelpfully while one of the twins wolf-whistled.

There wasn't the time to be too hurt by their teasing as she was rushed back to the pitch right as she stepped back into the locker room, Harry giving her a good luck smile. Now she was standing on the pitch as the sea of red and gold cheered for Harry's 'recovery' and the black and gold and green and silver crowd booed down at the 'returned' Seeker who was clutching at the broom for all it was worth. She wondered if Harry's Nimbus could tell that she wasn't his owner or if it could sense fear like a dog. The rain still hadn't let up, but she knew there was no way of backing out now.

The whistle gave a sharp blast, and she kicked off trying to do so like the rest of the team, but getting a little stuck by the mud, before the wind picked her and the broom up and they started being pushed this way and that by the storm.

"Potter seems to be off to a rough start there." She heard Lee's confused yet concerned voice echo across the stadium, magically amplified over the wind. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes or something equally ineffectual, and saw Cedric Diggory, Hufflepuff's Seeker, spare her a glance as she jerked a little sharply upward, still trying to get used to controlling the broom.

"Those bloody Dementors really did a number on Gryffindor's Seeker," Lee continued, not even stopped by McGonagall for foul language, "but he'll pull through, just you watch. Come on, Harry!"

"And it suddenly hit her that this wasn't just a matter of her filling a role for Harry while he waited backstage. This was her _being_ Harry. Every single person watching her saw _him_. They saw Harry James Potter, their Boy-Who-Lived, Quidditch Champion. And if she blew all that on just pretending to be him for a Quidditch match, she would never forgive herself. People were expecting great things from her brother, and she would deliver.

_'Alright, Quidditch fans, one Golden Snitch coming up!'_ The adrenaline coursed through her as she shot forward, eyes easily scanning for that glint of gold, yet still keeping watch on Cedric, and she had the most absurd thought that being Harry Potter was the best feeling in the world—

"The Snitch! Potter and Diggory have both spotted the Snitch! It's going to be close—!"

He had been a hair closer, but Harry's broom was faster and it was neck and neck, both Seekers straining forward for the little golden ball. His arm, longer, stretched his fingers mere centimeters before hers and she was about to try one more burst of speed, but it suddenly doubled back, easily dodging the first hand. It wasn't quite able to maneuver out of the way of the second, and flew right up the sleeve of Harry's robe with a gust of wind. She stopped the broom and clamped her left hand over the ball struggling under the fabric and extricated it, shoving her clenched fist triumphantly in the sky.

The crowd had begun cheering, but it took a moment for the shock of Harry's team to wear off. But then she was suddenly mobbed by six red and gold blurs as they all hugged and screamed, sinking down on brooms to the pitch.

"We did it!" Angelina, Katie, and Alicia shrieked, piercing, but it didn't matter.

"You really pulled it off, can't believe it!" The twins roared and thumped her on the back hard for appearances, but nothing was broken.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Wood sobbed and he seemed close to kissing her, but she didn't care.

They landed and were swamped by the spectators. People shouted praise, Percy counted money, Lee jumped up and down, and something crashed into her with all the force of a fierce hug.

"You did it again, mate! Great- er—" And before she could let the feeling of that warm contact sink in, it pulled back in the form of a very, very confused Ron Weasley holding her at arm's length and not quite sure what to say. She beamed at him and winked as his eyes widened in realization. The team made their way quickly as possible to the changing rooms where Harry rewarded her with his own hug and his own praise.

"Knew you'd be brilliant!" They changed and journeyed just as quickly to Gryffindor Tower where a party was in full swing.

And though Hermione scolded her when she found time to stop studying for her upcoming Ancient Runes exam the she was pretty sure Padma Patil had failed last Tuesday, and it really was Harry that the Gryffindors lifted on their shoulders, and she was told countless times she should have stayed and watched the match instead of leaving for the Hospital Wing, she still felt absolutely brilliant.

**So, there's another chapter that I hope you all enjoy. Let me know what you think, and I'll try to get more out soon!**


	10. Chapter 10: Marauder's Map Malfunction

**Yep, definitely have a review addiction….I guess that's good for you guys though, huh? I've been reading your comments and am happy to be the cause of so much entertainment- though I scratched my head a little at the request for Draco/Leila, I think they've said maybe five sentences to each other tops? Support what you will, though I had thought I was making a certain pairing rather obvious for the last few chapters. Maybe I'm **_**too**_** subtle, whoops. But even so, things can easily change. Well, here we go!**

**Dobby's Polka-Dotted Sock**

**Chapter Ten:**

**Marauder's Map Malfunction**

As it was, Harry's Nimbus Two-Thousand had not reacted well to being tossed about in the wind after its owner's 50-foot fall and then being pushed to its limits shortly afterward by its owner's sister. While it could still fly, it would never be able to compete against other Seeker's brooms again. Harry had been crushed at first, until Ron and Leila came up with the idea to hang it up on the wall of the boy's dorm. Hermione had paused her mad studying to perform the spell work necessary, and Harry had his first broom nearby once again.

Meanwhile, Oliver was desperate that Harry should buy a new broom at once, but with the Gryffindor's fall season over with her brother dragged his feet. Leila shook her head, easily being able to tell what was slowing him.

"You want that Firebolt, don't you?" She remarked over a Charms essay that was close to being finished.

"What?" Harry's head shot up from the reference book, surprised and a little flustered that his sibling had guessed so effortlessly.

"You heard me. It's not that hard to see that; you kept going back to stare at the Quality Quidditch window display in Diagon Alley all summer. And now you have the perfect excuse to buy it. Oliver will be so thrilled, just picture his face!" They both chuckled at that before Harry's face grew serious.

"That would be pretty great Leila, but I—_we_ don't have the money for that. The trust fund is for necessary things until we graduate, plus a little spending money. If I used it all on a Firebolt, we'd be in big trouble. And what about you? I can't spend that much of our money and not let you, too."

"There's not really anything that I want, Harry, but alright, think about it. You don't have to buy the broom yet."

The matter was pushed even further from their minds on Halloween when they returned to Gryffindor Tower from the feast.

"What's going on?" Ron asked the crowd of their fellow housemates all peering over each other's heads at the portrait hole.

"The Fat Lady's gone- someone ripped up her canvas!" Seamus informed them excitedly.

"_What_?"

The Fat Lady was found and it was eventually coerced out of her that the intruder was none other than Sirius Black, the one man who supposedly was not able to penetrate into the castle, what with the Dementors and other extra precautions.

The students were moved into the Great Hall for the night, but Leila did not find sleep easy, and she doubted anyone else did. How safe were they if a killer could break into a heavily guarded castle and only get caught because of leftover evidence from a fit of rage he experienced.

_'If he had known the password, he could have been in there when we got back, lying in wait for Harry….and maybe me, if he really wants to finish off all the Potters.'_

It didn't help matters that the teachers were unable to find any trace of Black, like he was a phantom that could appear and strike at will.

Professor Lupin was feeling ill again during the last Hogsmeade trip before break, so it was that Harry and Leila were a little melancholy as their two friends made their way down the path to the wizarding village. The two began looking for someone to talk to, maybe Ginny, when they ran into her older twin brothers.

"Aren't you two going to Hogsmeade?" Harry asked curiously.

"In a minute," George affirmed.

"We just had a bit of unfinished business to attend to," his brother clarified.

"Alright, well, see you later then," Leila said, continuing down the corridor.

"No, you see, Leila," Fred interrupted, snagging her by the arm, "our business is with you two here."

"What kind of business?" Harry prompted as she rejoined him, equally as suspicious.

"Ah, Harry, don't you trust us? We just wanted to give you something," George said.

"Think of it as an early Christmas gift, or a thank you for winning the match," Fred added.

The boy-and-girl twin pair folded their arms as Leila said, "Alright, we're listening."

"This," George said as he whipped out what looked like an old spare piece of parchment.

"It looks like an old spare piece of parchment," Harry echoed what Leila had thought.

"Not just any spare piece of parchment," Fred corrected them.

"This little beauty has helped us become a huge success around here," George admitted fondly.

"It's a bit of a wrench giving it to you, but we figure your need is greater than ours."

"Watch closely," and here George tapped the parchment with his wand saying, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

Instantly ink began to sprout on the page, quickly becoming—

"That's a map of Hogwarts!" Harry exclaimed, surprised.

"Yes indeed," Fred agreed, "The Marauder's Map shows you every inch of Hogwarts—"

"Not to mention every person on every inch of Hogwarts," George added smugly.

"It also shows secret passages into and out of the castle that not many people know about. Now, this one is caved in, but here…" As Fred began instructing Harry on all the secret passages, Leila couldn't believe her ears.

"No need to thank us or anything," George remarked, a little bemused by her expression.

"If this map shows _everyone_," Leila finally said, her voice sounding almost hollow to herself, "Why didn't you use it to find Black on Halloween? Or give it to the teachers so they could find him?"

Fred and George seemed to pause, glancing at each other quickly.

"Right, well, we had left it in the dorm that night, and we weren't allowed to go in there," Fred defended.

"And he's not on it now, see?" George quickly pointed out, showing them the map.

"But what if he was just a few minutes ago?" Harry countered. "I bet he'd love to get his hands on that." All four exchanged nervous looks before extensively searching the map again. No Sirius Black to be found, but—"

"Who's that skulking around your dormitory, Harry?" Leila grabbed his arm, and Harry turned white.

"'Peter Pettigrew'?" Fred read the name off the map. "I've never heard of him."

"Let's go look then," George decided. "He's hanging round Ron's bed, and I don't like that."

They made their way quick as possible to the common room, made easier by passages that Fred and George showed them, and Leila could easily see the benefits of the Marauder's Map. Soon enough they were at the third years boy's dormitory. All four pulled out their wands before Fred kicked the door open.

"There's no one in here!" Harry finally said, confused as the rest were.

"But that's not possible, the map's _never_ wrong, ever!" George protested, checking under Ron's bed, in his drawer, and then moving on to the other beds.

"But the only living things in here are us, Scabbers, and Trevor," Leila pointed out. Obviously it's malfunctioning somehow."

The twins sighed, defeated, and Harry, trying to lift their spirits said, "Tell you what, we go to Hogsmeade now, and then we'll search again after that if the name hasn't left the map."

"We could look it up in the library tomorrow," Leila suggested, "Maybe some bloke named Pettigrew was a Gryffindor and his name got stuck or something."

They all agreed and the pairs of twins split up, the Weasleys leaving through the front door while the Potters snuck through a passage guarded by the statue of a hump-backed witch.

Hogsmeade was truly a wonder, all decked out as it was in its holiday splendor, looking just look a Christmas card. They pulled up their hoods to make identifying them more difficult and explored, keeping an eye out for Ron and Hermione.

When they finally found them, it was at the Shrieking Shack where Malfoy was busy harassing the pair. Some snowballs thrown with the aid of the Invisibility Cloak later, and that problem was solved, but Ron and Hermione seemed rather stunned at how they had managed to sneak out of the castle.

"A map of Hogwarts? No way! You'd think they would've given it to me, since I'm their brother and all, but wicked!" Ron said.

"You used it to sneak out of the school? You should have turned it into a teacher as soon as you thought about Black! Harry, you shouldn't even be out here, it's dangerous- he's looking for _you_. And Leila, well- you- you don't even have permission to come here! What if a teacher catches you?"

"Calm down, Hermione, happy to see you too," Leila joked, a little alarmed at her friend's behavior.

"Oh no, it's not- I'm just worried is all. Just worried."

"It'll be fine, Hermione," Ron spoke, pacifying the brunette. "We'll make sure nothing happens. So let's head to the Three Broomsticks for Butterbeer."

The Three Broomsticks certainly lived up to its fantastic reputation, and the Butterbeer tasted just brilliant. It was the warmest, sweetest drink she had ever had, and just the winter chill away like it had never been there in the first place.

But suddenly, she and Harry were shoved under the table as Professors McGonagall, Flitwick, Hagrid, and the Minister of Magic all came in for a drink together. The adults had looser tongues in their own company, and the information they inadvertently revealed to the four students was shocking. The man their parents had most trusted- the one the Lupin never mentioned in his stories, she now realized –their own godfather, had betrayed them to Voldemort and was now hunting them down. Dimly it registered in her brain that she had also been correct about Peter Pettigrew; he had been a Gryffindor student, but was dead for twelve years which left them with nothing to go on in that direction.

They made their silent way to the castle, anger stirring in the pits of the Potter twins' stomachs. How could he? Sirius Black, the cruelest man to have ever existed. And there he was, best man in those photos long ago, he looked much better then than now. But it didn't matter, because he was still alive and free.

"As soon as Professor Lupin gets back, we're having a nice long chat," Leila threatened as the four sat by the fire.

"That wouldn't solve anything, Leila—" Hermione started, but Harry cut her off with a rather sardonic snort.

"Yeah, waiting isn't going to help anything. How about we go talk to Hagrid? We know he's already drunk."

"A brilliant idea!" Leila praised her twin as she jumped up and went for the portrait hole.

Ron and Hermione stood back nervously as the twins took turns pounding on the door of Hagrid's hut. Eventually it was pulled open by Hagrid, who was indeed drunk, but also sobbing as he clutched an official looking piece of parchment.

Tearfully, he told them of Buckbeak's impending trial, and how he was certain that the hippogriff would be found guilty and executed. Leila looked to her brother for direction, but he shook his head. She huffed, slightly annoyed, but willing to wait for a better time to question their large friend, and waited for Ron to finish making tea as they all settled down to begin the long process of calming Hagrid down.

Back in the common room they finished up their homework, Ron and Hermione both already in bed.

"Harry?" Leila ventured, remembering a thought she had had before they heard that conversation in the Three Broomsticks.

"Yeah?"

"Do you think- well, did it seem to you like Ron and Hermione weren't happy to see us? Like they were unhappy we'd found a way to sneak out and join them?"

"Well, Hermione hates rule breaking, and I think Ron was just insulted that the twins didn't pass the map on to him," Harry replied. "That was probably it."

"Ok, but they seemed a little…too put out, you know?"

"Don't worry about it, they're fine."

"Alright," Leila couldn't shake the feeling, though, that Ron and Hermione had wanted to go to Hogsmeade together, alone. And it made her feel very uncomfortable for some reason.

**Well, that's the latest chapter. Thank you for reading.**


	11. Chapter 11: Potter Paradox

**Aaaaand another chapter. I'm scared you guys are going to start expecting regular updates, which will probably end soon as school starts again next week and I have a job. But I will try my hardest!**

**Chapter Eleven:**

**Potter Paradox**

"Leila, wake up," Hermione gently shook the sleeping girl out of oblivion, and into the morning as Leila sat up and rubbed her eyes.

"Mmm….it'searly," she slurred and gave a huge yawn, arms stretching above her head.

"I know that," Hermione said with some amusement. As it was the holidays, Hermione had had plenty of time to catch up with all her homework and no longer looked constantly haggard. "But I figured we should open our presents now so we can join the boys in their dorm. They're probably not up yet."

"No kidding," Leila muttered, searching for a clock, but then decided she didn't want to know how early it was, and changed her focus to the little pile of presents at the foot of her bed. A book from Hermione, which she thanked her for; rock cakes from Hagrid; photos of her parents from Professor Lupin; a sweater and sweets from Mrs. Weasley, always welcome; a warm scarf from Ginny; the goggles she had worn during the Quidditch match from Harry as a sort of memento; a Fanged Frisbee from the twins, sent 'with their love' according to the card; and Chocolate Frogs- her favorite candy- from Ron. That left a long, thin, unmarked package, the sender she couldn't account for. She had never received a present from anyone else, unless she were to count the Invisibility Cloak that Dumbledore had returned to Harry and herself during their first Christmas at Hogwarts, and she doubted he had any other Potter family heirlooms lying around his office.

Taking the wrappings off, she nearly dropped the object in shock. "What—?"

It was a Firebolt, the newest, fastest model of broom in existence. Hermione gasped in surprise at the sight of it as well.

"How did- who sent it?" She asked. Leila merely shook her head.

"I don't know…but whoever did send it, sent it to the wrong room. I can't _possibly_ be the owner of this!" She hurriedly pulled a bathrobe over her nightclothes and descended the girls' dormitory stairs, only to run up the identical boys' set. Knocking on the door, she pushed it open a little at the invitation in from the boys inhabiting it, not sure of how to approach the topic.

She needn't have bothered, because as soon as she poked her face in, Ron called out to her,

"Leila, brilliant! We were just going to go get you to. Look at _this_!" he crowed, gesturing to the broom held reverently in her brother's hands, identical to her own.

"Huh?" Dumbfounded, she couldn't understand. Who would have sent both her and Harry Firebolts? Who had that kind of cash?

"I know, wicked, right? We're sure to win every game now—what have _you_ got?" She entered to room fully, displaying the broom in her hands. "Merlin's beard!" Ron exclaimed, while Harry's gaze snapped up to it, and then to her face.

"Do you know who sent it?" They both asked at the same time, then looked a little sheepish as they both shook their heads in answer while Ron chuckled a little.

"Whoever it was must be rich, though," She said, and her twin nodded.

"But why wouldn't they want to take credit for it?" he added another question to the growing pile.

"Who cares?" Ron interrupted. "Wait till the other teams see them! Can't you just picture Malfoy's face?" He laughed at the image, but the merry-making was cut short as a voice cut through.

"I don't think any of this is funny," Hermione said framed in the doorway with Crookshanks curled up in her arms. A loud squeak sounded from Scabbers, who seemed to go spare at the sight of the cat, and made a leap off his owner's bed to scamper under Neville's.

"Scabbers!" Ron cried, crouching down at his hiding spot and trying to coax the rat out from under the bed. Crookshanks eyes were fixed on the same spot. "What'd you bring him here for?" their red-haired friend asked angrily, taking a break from luring his pet back out to point an accusing finger at Hermione's pet.

"Crookshanks is as much a part of this group as Scabbers is," Hermione pointed out, before saying, "But what I meant was, I don't think we should be doing anything with those brooms yet, except for turning them into a professor."

"What? Why?" Harry asked, holding his broom close.

"Well, think about it, Harry. You and Leila received very extravagant and tempting gifts from a mysterious sender. Now who has a murderous lunatic after them? You and Leila."

"Oh come off it—" Ron started to say, but Leila said.

"Hermione, why would Sirius Black waste thousands of Galleons to send us fancy cursed brooms when he could have sent poisoned candy or something like that? What's the point? Besides, the castle is sealed off at night, and not reopened until breakfast."

She dug around in Harry's nightstand for a minute before finding what she was looking for- the Marauder's Map. "So," she continued, "if he snuck in here to send it, he still has to be in the castle." She began to scan it top to bottom with her eyes, when Harry spoke.

"Hey, Pettigrew's left Ron's bed," he examined the small dormitory and pronounced, "he's haunting Neville, now." They had come to the conclusion that Pettigrew's spirit was hanging around the dorm, like a half-ghost, trying to find his old friends again. Hermione said that if that was true then he would be following Professor Lupin around, but it was the only theory that made sense.

" No Black, lucky for him," Leila said, folding up the map.

"But, he could have found a secret passage out of the castle!" The brunette protested.

"Hermione, we've been holding them for at least ten minutes now," Harry said evenly, "and nothing's happened. How can they be cursed?"

"It might not go into effect unless you're flying," she said, "but please, I don't want anything to happen to you to."

"You just don't like Quidditch," Ron returned.

"This isn't about Quidditch!" Hermione spat, starting to get angry, so in an attempt to defuse the situation Leila said,

"You know, I think I could go for breakfast right about now, let's head down."

Breakfast really was like never before, as students and teachers alike sat together and participated in regular Christmas traditions, Trelawney came down from her tower and heroically broke the '13 people' spell that was upon their table, the adults got a little tipsy, and Hagrid kissed McGonagall on the cheek. It was later when Harry, Ron, and Leila, staggered up to Gryffindor Tower in stitches over the look on Snape's face when the cracker had exploded to reveal the vulture-hat that they found out what had been done behind their backs.

Hermione had gone to Professor McGonagall over her concerns about the brooms, and the teacher confiscated the two presents, saying they were to be 'stripped' and tested for dark magic. Ron was in a righteous fury over the sneakiness of it all, Harry looked like his best friend had been killed, and Leila just couldn't understand why Hermione would have done it without their knowledge. They hadn't been _her_ presents.

Heading to bed as late as possible, it was still awkward as she slunk to her bed, still being able to hear Hermione's lonely sobs from behind the other girl's curtains. They stopped as Leila's bed squeaked, and the black-haired girl winced.

"Leila?" Hermione sniffled. "Are-are you still angry with me?" She sounded so small, and Leila's shoulders slumped as she said.

"No, Hermione, I just….don't understand why you felt you had to go around us and talk to McGonagall about it. You've been keeping a lot of secrets this year, really. That's not what friends do," Of course, that led to Leila guiltily trying to block out Hermione's tears for the rest of the night.

Lavender and Parvati didn't much appreciate the unease that pervaded their dorm room upon returning from their homes for the new school term.

"What happened?" Lavender inquired, more out of curiosity to feed her rumor mills then anything else, Leila wryly thought.

"It's kind of complicated," she said vaguely, not really sure how to explain it herself.

Wood was devastated that a Firebolt had been within his team's grasp, but had been cruelly snatched away, and asked Professor McGonagall about the progress made in testing them every chance he got, causing the Gryffindor Head of House to become increasingly irritated with him.

"I'm curious as the why both of you received the same gift," Lupin remarked idly at their second Patronus lesson. After the near disastrous Quidditch match, Harry and Leila had become rather interested in how to repel dementors, and Professor Lupin had been kind enough to offer them lessons on the Patronus Charm. They used Harry's boggart form to practice, as opposed to a real dementor, however.

"I dunno," Leila replied, as it was Harry's turn to try and produce some semblance of a Patronus. "At first I thought mine was meant for Harry, but when he had one two, I didn't know what to think." Harry moved to the side a little and Leila hopped off the desk she'd been sitting on, pointing her wand and yelling, "_Expecto Patronum!_" A little silvery mist leaked from the wand, but nothing else happened, and so she retreated while Lupin forced the boggart back into the cabinet.

"That's enough for today, I think," he announced, handing them each a piece of chocolate which they swallowed gratefully. "And why couldn't it have been your present anyway, Leila? I'm sure you each have your equal share of admirers." He smiled a little at the rolled eyes he received from both. It dropped from his face, however, when Harry asked,

"Do you think Sirius Black could have sent them, sir?" Her twin tried to sound casual, but there was a bit of hidden interest in it as well, and Leila knew what was on his mind.

"You were friends with him, weren't you professor? You had to be," She said quietly, looking intently at the scarred man. Lupin sighed heavily.

"Yes, yes, I was….friends with Black, as was your father. We had no idea of what he would become. Sirius always seemed so—" he shook his head, clearing away the memories that his brain was leading him through.

"Well, whatever he was, I hope he's caught soon," Harry said, frowning with his gaze on the floor.

When they came back, Leila opted to get an early shower, leaving her homework for the weekend. Once finished, she dressed in her nightclothes and wrapped a towel around her wet head to keep from getting a chill, stepping back into her dorm. As she did, there came a flash of light in between her and Hermione's beds, and someone appeared from thin air.

It was a girl, with scraggly dark hair that still looked damp, wearing the same night-shirt and pants as her, holding a strange necklace on a gold chain that looked vaguely familiar.

"Wha—" she started to say, but couldn't quite finish when the other girl turned around, confused just as she. Hazel eyes….met hazel eyes, and identical scars on identical foreheads! Both panicked, Leila reached for her wand, while Leila also drew her fist back. "Who are—" each girl demanded, but the fist was faster, and Leila fell back onto the bed, the last thing in sight being her own terrified eyes.

"…la! Leila, please, wake up!" A voice commanded, and she managed to open one eye. The other wasn't cooperating for some reason. And then the headache kicked in.

"Ohh," she groaned, as someone helped her sit up. It was Hermione. "Hermione, I saw- I- I know it's going to sound crazy, but—" The other girl's eyes seemed to light up in realization and she began talking as if Leila hadn't spoken.

"This is when I find you! After you…alright, er, what to do, what to do…" This confusing speech only served to make her head hurt more, and she felt around her left eye where the pain originated. It was swollen shut, and she had a feeling would turn into a regular black eye soon.

"Here," Hermione said, pushing the other's hands aside and steadying her wand over to wound. She muttered a quick spell and the pain began to subside. "I can't do anymore than that, I only have time to look up that spell once I find out what happens to you, but the rest of the swelling will go down in about a half an hour." Even without the pounding head, no of what Hermione was saying made sense.

"Hermione, what're you—"

"I can't explain, Leila, I don't have time. I'll be back here in fifteen minutes, so I can't be seen. I'm so sorry, I should have told you and the boys a long time ago, but Professor McGonagall said—anyway, stay here in the dorm, you're not going mad, and just wait until I come back." With that, the other girl left the dorm room, running down the stairs and out of sight.

"What the bloody hell?" Leila asked to the empty room. She _had_ to be going mad; it wasn't possible what she'd seen otherwise. Now that she had time to her thoughts she tried to fully register what she had seen. A person appearing magically in the dorm room had punched her out—no, _she_ had punched _herself_ out. "No, no, that's not possible. It couldn't have been me, I'm here right now." She rubbed at her wet hair with the towel to give her something to do, then became frustrated by not being able to understand what had happened, and threw the towel down, her messy hair, still a little wet falling all around her. Instead she opted to pace back and forth, not sure what was going to happen.

The door opened then and she glanced at the clock. It had been exactly fifteen minutes, just as Hermione said. And sure enough, when she whirled around, it was Hermione in the doorway, laden down with books from the library. _'How did she have time to gather that many and come back?'_ Leila thought as the brunette slipped over to her bed and began to pull off her sweater.

"What's going on?" She demanded sharply, as the other girl seemed to have all the answers to this strange evening. But instead, Hermione shrank back, and suddenly Leila realized that the Hermione she had conversed with a quarter-hour ago was been much bolder than Hermione had been acting in the weeks after the Broom Incident. Now she was back to the shy, timid girl constantly on the edge of tears.

"Wha-what? What did I do?" Hermione asked her as she took her nightgown out of her trunk.

"What do you mean, 'What did I do'? You just left fifteen minutes ago, saying you'd be back and that I wasn't allowed to leave the dorm until then!"

"I did that?" Hermione asked, seeming incredibly worried for some reason.

"You bloody well did!" Leila shouted, fed up with this crazy half-hour.

"I-I have to go," Hermione said, yanking the knitted sweater over her head again and stumbling from the dorm.

"I don't understand!" Leila nearly pulled at her hair, livid and frightened as she was, when a glint of gold caught her eye. Something had fallen from Hermione's bed and she stooped to pick it up. The necklace that she—the other she, had been holding!

Studying it closer, she saw that the design was comprised of an hour glass with a knob on the side meant for turning. She started to turn it then stopped, thinking she shouldn't be touching Hermione's possessions, even if the other girl was being annoyingly cryptic, and removed her hand from the knob.

The room began to swirl around her and she thought she saw things moving all around but she couldn't hear anything over the strange rushing noise. And just as quickly it all stopped, and she found herself still in the dorm.

But where were Hermione's books? And the towel she had used was missing from the floor. A door opened and someone stepped out of the bathroom, even though no one had been in there.

"Wha—" she heard a _very_ familiar voice begin, and turned, not believing it. Hazel locked onto hazel, and both pairs of eyes searched for and found the same scar on the same forehead. She couldn't believe it was happening again, as she saw the identical girl go for a wand that belonged to both of them and before she could stop, the rage, fear, and confusion built up into a closed fist.

"Who are—" but this time she finished as the other girl fell on the bed, "you?"

She turned the girl over to get a closer look, and saw the beginnings of what would be a black eye before Hermione would heal it, and saw the wet hair coming loose from the towel wrapped around the head. She saw _herself_.

"Wha-what's happening?" But no one responded, and she couldn't stay here with no one but her unconscious self to keep her company.

Leila staggered away, shaking her head, and fled the room, tumbling down the stairs and tripping out of the portrait hole, not even glancing at anyone in the Common Room. No one stopped her, they had no reason to, as it was 8:30, before curfew. A grandfather clock on the wall begged to differ; it read 8:00.

But 8 o'clock was past, half an hour ago! And yet, half an hour ago, she had left the bathroom to find herself standing there, and had had the same wound inflicted upon herself as she had just inflicted. She tripped on a stair and toppled to the bottom of the flight, finding herself unable to rise again she was so weak-legged. Beyond comprehension and terrified, Leila curled up and wept bewildered tears, alone it the dark corridor.

Some time later, a soft hand ghosted over her arm, and she felt herself being pulled into a sitting position once more. Of course it was Hermione again, and her friend's personality had undergone another 180 degree turn.

"Oh Leila, I'm so sorry. This was my entire fault, I should've been more careful with it," Hermione was smoothing back her soggy tangled hair and gently prying away the strange necklace still clasped in her hand. It was as though the loosening of the tight grip she had on the mysterious jewelry also truly relieved her of everything and she sobbed onto her friend's shoulder until weariness settled within her.

"I still can't believe you let things go that far, Hermione, she could have really hurt herself!"

"Ah, calm down, Harry, she was able to send herself back or whatever to make sure things worked out, so there's no need to worry." Ron's voice.

"I really am sorry, Harry. I knew all the risks and implications and I was just careless. I'm going to make it up to you all, really I am."

"How's that?" Came her brother's voice, grudging but curious.

"'Min the Hospital Wing, aren't I?" She mumbled, and heard Ron give a little chuckle.

"Good guess. Alright there, Leila?" Sleepily she opened her eyes to the daylight, seeing him smile down at her from the chair beside her bed.

"Better, I think," she replied and began raising herself from the bed, Harry helping to prop the pillows up so she could sit.

"Madam Pomfrey thinks that she's taken care of the disorientation and anxiety, but how do you feel?" he asked, concern being the primary emotion.

"I dunno," she found herself saying, "I mean, I feel like I should be really worked up about something, but it's like I just can't bring myself to be."

"That's the anxiety potion," said the hospital matron brusquely, sending a breakfast tray to land on her lap with a flick of her wand. "Eat up, you still look a little pale. It's not every day someone accidentally sends themselves back in time to come face to face with themselves."

"Sorry?" She asked, nearly choking on a piece of bacon.

"It was my fault," Hermione blurted, "the necklace you picked up, it's a Time-Turner; I use it to go back in time to take extra classes. Professor McGonagall got for me from the Ministry and I promised I wouldn't mention it, but it just became a huge mess. I was so scared when I realized what happened, Leila, I've read reports about people who bump into their past selves and it drove them insane- I didn't want that to happen to you, I didn't!" This was said in a breathless rush reminiscent of Hermione's speeches from their first year.

"So, you're saying you've had this magical device all year that allows you to go back in time, and you've just been using that to take extra classes?" Leila asked incredulously, eyebrows raised high up her forehead. Hermione's shoulders slumped part in exasperation, part in relief as the boys laughed.

"I knew it," Harry chuckled.

"That's what I asked her!" Ron snickered.

"Well that's hardly surprising, you two are usually on the same page about these things," Harry pointed out while his best mate and his sister beamed at each other.

Though she had to have a long talk and mental examination from Madam Pomfrey, and the woman requested that she stop by before the end of the school year just to check again for any 'lingering effects', Leila was released soon after and was able to rejoin her peers. The best part was that Hermione's apology-present involved the girl entertaining them for a Divination lesson by declaring their teacher a fraud and storming theatrically from the classroom. All four friends agreed that it was the best class they'd ever had.

**This will probably be the last chapter before the school year starts, so I apologize in advance for slower updates, but still keep an eye on this story people, I have plans for it!**


	12. Chapter 12: Escape Artists

**Ok sorrysorrysorrysorry. Sorry. But my inspiration tends to come and go with the wind. Even now I'm thinking up ideas for another multi-chapter HP fic. I'm nuts, right? But thank you sooo much for all the reviews and feedback, it means a lot to me! Please, enjoy this chapter!**

**Dobby's Polka-Dotted Sock**

**Chapter Twelve:**

**Escape Artists**

She was snuggled peacefully for once into the covers, but it wasn't Hermione who woke her this time. A strangled yell burst into the night, making her jerk and then shoot up in bed.

"Hmm?"

"Whu—"

"_Lumos!_"

Said her three dorm mates, and in the light from Hermione's wand Leila reached out for her bathrobe and yanked it on.

"C'mon," she urged, "Somebody's in trouble!" And she couldn't help but think that it was someone she knew. She and Hermione were among the first students to gather in the common room, and some of the prefects were attempting crowd control, and failing miserably.

"Alright, alright, I'm here. Let me _through_ please, this is your Head Boy—" Percy had arrived, the shiny badge pinned to his bathrobe. Seamus suddenly came rushing down the stairs and latched onto the eldest Weasley's arm.

"Percy, come quick! Ron's saying he's been attacked!" The collective gasps make a circuit around the room, and Percy gaped for a moment before saying,

"Attacked? By whom, may I ask?"

"Sirius Black!" It was Ron who answered, being guided by Harry and Neville, one to an arm. Instead of gasps this time, the room exploded into noise, and Leila and Hermione pushed their way through to their friends.

"Are you okay, Ron?" She asked, wide eyes searching for injury.

"I'm not hurt or anything," he replied as he patted Hermione reassuringly on the arm.

"Ronald, it's not good to lie about things like this. Sirius Black here? How would he have managed it?" Percy asked, clearly believing it to be either an exaggeration or downright false.

"It's not a lie!" Ron said hotly while other people jumped to his defense.

"He attacked the Fat Lady before!"

"He was with You-Know-Who! Knows all his secrets and stuff!"

"Quiet, quiet, we can't cause a panic." But Percy's brief period of reign was very short, as the portrait hole opened. Everyone tensed, but when Professor McGonagall's slippered foot stepped in, the fear dissipated mostly.

"What in the name of Merlin himself is going on here? Some type of party? Percy, I'm surprised, we have a curfew—"

"It wasn't _me_ Professor," Percy puffed up in indignation. "Ron here had a nightmare, had a scare, nothing to worry about, really—"

"It wasn't a nightmare, Professor. Honest, he attacked me, he really did!"

"Who attacked you, Weasley?" The professor's eyebrows had disappeared under her nightcap they were so high.

"Sirius Black!" Again the chatter picked up.

"Sirius B—are you sure?"

"How else would my bed curtains be ripped with a knife?" A couple girls shrieked, and several people exclaimed, "A knife!" It would be some time before the professor organized everyone and had them moved to the Great Hall again.

Sleep was hard to come by this time, too, but eventually people began to nod off here and there. One person seemed to refuse to let sleep find them, however, and sat up in their sleeping bag, knees brought up to their chest, and shaking slightly. It was a different Weasley than she had expected, nonetheless.

"Ginny? You alright?" The redhead started at the light touch to the shoulder, but relaxed at Leila's familiar voice. She nodded in response. "You sure?" Ginny's lip trembled, she turned, and suddenly Leila had an armful of red hair and freckles.

"Oh Leila, what might've happened if Ron didn't wake up? What was Sirius Black trying to do, anyway? And I can't help thinking that I don't say it nearly enough—that I'd feel really _awful_ if something happened to Ron!"

"Uh…there, there. It's fine, Ginny, he's okay, not a scratch. Black got scared when he found out how powerful Ron's lungs are." The smaller girl chuckled feebly at that, but it was something. "Don't worry too much, popular theory is that he mixed up the beds, picked the wrong one. I'm sure Ron's not in any real danger now."

"You think?" She nodded this time, but Ginny's hopeful smile slowly turned into a furrowed brow. "Then who was he after. You don't think—Harry?"

"Well…" she hesitated, not wanting to upset her younger friend further. "Probably. It's the most likely. But Harry'll be fine; he's a real light sleeper."

"He was after the ghost, actually," said a light airy voice. Ginny pulled away from Leila and both girls turned to see another girl with long, pale blonde hair and large blue eyes. Ginny sighed in relief, and something sparked in Leila's memory.

"Hey, I know you! You're…um, Luna, right?" The other girl nodded with a happy sort of smile. "Well, uh, what's 'the ghost'?"

"The ghost of that Gryffindor boy, of course. The one who's searching for all his friends. Sirius Black wants to find all of his old friends, you know," Luna seemed very certain of this answer.

"Er…right," Leila said, turning over and lying down inside her sleeping bag. "G'night." _'Yeah, he's looking for them so he can kill them all.'_

OoO

"Well, how has your week been?" Lupin asked with a smile as he let them in. Harry sighed in remembrance of the week as Leila trudged in beside him.

"Terrible," she supplied, and Harry agreed.

"I'm sure it wasn't that bad," Lupin laughed a little, moving towards the cabinet that housed their practice-Dementor. "Teenagers tend to blow things out of proportion sometimes, I remember."

"Yeah, well this isn't out of proportion," Harry countered stubbornly, pulling his wand out and getting into a ready stance. Lupin paused and glanced at their scowling faces.

"Maybe we should hold off for a minute. I don't think either of you will be able to come up with a happy memory with those faces. What happened?"

"Well, Scabbers went missing, and Ron blames Crookshanks, so he and Hermione are in this huge fight and Harry's only allowed to talk with Ron and I'm only allowed to talk with Hermione. It's bloody pigheaded of them, but they won't have it any other way." Lupin still looked slightly confused.

"Who are Scabbers and Crookshanks?"

"Scabbers is—or was as Ron says—Ron's rat. And Crookshanks is Hermione's cat," Harry explained, and Lupin's eyes lit up in realization.

"Ah, so he's blaming the cat for his pet's disappearance?"

"Yes, and Hermione refuses to believe it, never mind Crookshanks is just as catlike as any other feline," Leila said, sick of the other girl ranting to her about Ron's 'prejudice' towards cats.

"And Hermione's blaming it on Sirius Black, and Ron's not even bothering to consider that idea," Harry said with an equally annoyed huff.

"Well, it's pretty far-fetched. I mean, how would an experienced murderer completely miss a stationary teenage boy and end up hitting a fat, old rat?"

"I know, but maybe it would calm them down if he offered to think it over. And Hermione's really careful about letting Crookshanks into our dorm normally. I can't imagine anything would have changed." They both sighed again, frustrated and with no way of solving the issue. It seemed their friend-group would be in perpetual argument.

"Sirius Black killing an old rat, huh?" Lupin commented, and his mouth seemed to be twitching in an odd way. But his expression changed as he said, "Let me try and think of a story to tell that would cheer you up." And just like little children, Harry and Leila sat forward eagerly to listen.

OoO

Homework finished, and Hermione off taking the Charms class from earlier that afternoon, Leila was bored out of her skull. She pulled the Marauder's Map out of her nightstand—they had been keeping it with her since Sirius Black's attack in Harry's dorm—seeing that no one was around, and activated it. She was mostly trying to figure out where each of the common rooms was on the parchment by looking for masses of people, when her eyes slid over Gryffindor Tower itself.

Something seemed off on this slight perusal, and she went back and scanned it more closely. Everything looked fine; people were either down in the common room or in their beds or bathrooms. Ron was at the foot of his own bed, probably digging around for pajamas, Neville was already asleep or resting, Seamus was making his way up the stairs…

It took a moment for Leila to realize what had caught her attention. She wasn't looking for something odd to be there. She was looking for something odd to _not_ be there.

Scabbers wasn't the only one missing from the third year boy's dorm. Peter Pettigrew's dot had vanished.

**Aaaaand, I'm evil. I'm dreadfully sorry. Some of you might ask why I moved the date of Sirius' second attack up, and I'll tell you considering we all know he's innocent anyway. At least, we should know this, hope I haven't spoiled anything for someone. The way I see it, in this story Sirius has two godchildren. That means two people he deeply cares for are in the clutches of his worst enemy. This doubles the stakes. Also, and I apologize if this seems sexist, Leila is a girl so he probably sees her even more as this damsel-in-distress type situation. Don't be mad at him, he only knew her from when she was like, 1, he'll change his opinion. Also, author reason: I didn't want to type extra PoA chapters that I didn't think I'd need. The less chapters I have to write, the faster this story is completed and I think that's a goal we all want.**

**So, thank you very much for being so patient once again and for reading, and please let me know what you thought of this chapter!**


	13. Chapter 13: Cornered Animal

**I feel so guilty for the long wait, you get another chapter! Huzzah!**

**Dobby's Polka-Dotted Sock**

**Chapter Thirteen:**

**Cornered Animal**

Harry examined every corner of his dorm room on the map. "I don't get it," he said finally. "How come Pettigrew just up and vanished?"

"How should I know?" Leila shot back, "I was just looking around, and then it hit me that he was gone!"

"But nothing different has happened recently, nothing at all. Unless the ghost left when Black almost attacked Ron," they looked at each other and shook their heads. Even though they had been decided on the ghost story for awhile, both knew it was a silly idea. Nearly Headless Nick didn't show up on the map, so why would Peter Pettigrew? No one had ever seen his ghost anyway.

"Well, if he really is haunting the place, he can't have gone far," Leila said finally and Harry nodded. They bent over the map, eyes slowly passing over every inch of the paper. After a bit she gave a groan and said, "This is going to take forever! Hogwarts is huge!"

"Yeah," Harry sighed wearily, "I wish there was some kind of way to pinpoint a person's location on this thing if you needed to find them."

"What's this?"

"Not satisfied with our Christmas gift?" The red-haired twins were leaning in the doorframe of the third-year boy's dorm.

"Pettigrew's gone," Harry said simply, and the older boys looked much more interested, coming to see for themselves.

"So he is," said George, holding the map up to the light.

"Good of him to do so. He was hanging around our little brother's bed."

"And that's hardly acceptable behavior."

"But what does it mean?" Leila asked.

"Hell if we know. We nicked the thing, we didn't make it."

"Well who did?" Harry asked. "If we knew who it was, maybe we could ask them what it means. We could send a letter with Hedwig or something."

"That might take weeks of study in the library though," George reminded them. "And we might not even be able to figure it out."

"Well, how about asking one of the teachers if they know these nicknames?" Leila tried. "McGonagall might remember, or maybe Flitwick—"

"And give away that we have this?" Fred asked. "Fat chance."

"Dumbledore might not get suspicious," Harry said, "And he's probably our best bet. He's been here forever!"

"If you want to try, be my—"

"_Or_, we could interview Hagrid's new dinner guest," George said, pointing to not one, but two dots on the map inside Hagrid's Hut. One of which was labeled _Peter Pettigrew_.

"Good eye, Forge!" Fred cheered, and made for the door. "What are we waiting for?"

"Um, it's past curfew," Harry pointed out. That had never stopped them before, but Leila knew Harry was wary of letting the Weasley Twins know they owned an Invisibility Cloak.

"What kind of adventurer are you, Harry? The conclusion of this mystery awaits!"

With that proclamation the identical twins lead their fraternal counterparts down the stairs. Not many were in the common room, but Hermione was among them. She looked up and said with some suspicion, "Where are you four going?"

"Erm—" Leila was shoved forward by the other three to answer her female friend. "Harry, er, forgot something, and the twins are helping us sneak out to find it. We'll be back in a little bit, I swear, Hermione, but Harry needs it to finish that potions essay." She knew it was a weak lie, but Hermione only looked away and said,

"Al-alright. I won't tell on you or anything." Was Hermione's voice wavering? The girl wasn't that much a stickler for rules!

"Thanks, Hermione," she said with a grateful smile and moved to rejoin the group. But Hermione caught her arm and faced her, and Leila could see honest-to-Merlin tears welling up in the other's eyes.

"Just—be careful. And-and remember what McGonagall was teaching us today about human-to-animal transifiguration."

"Er…alright, Hermione," Leila agreed to appease her, even though she had no idea what Hermione was talking about. And why was she so upset?

As she rather awkwardly got up and returned to the boys, Harry muttered, "How come I have to be the idiot who forgot his potions notes?"

"Hey, you can make up the lie next time if you aren't satisfied," Leila defended, and they slipped out of the portrait hole.

They were on the third floor when it happened. "Lupin!" Fred hissed in shock, "How'd he get behind us so fast?"

"No way out?" George asked and sounded worried.

"Afraid not, we'll have to hope he goes easy on us. _Mischief Managed!_"

"Who's there?" The professor's familiar voice sounded from down the corridor. "Show yourself."

Leila had never felt so guilty in her life when, as she and the other three turned to face him, Lupin's face first went slack with relief, and then livid.

"What are you all doing out here? There's a murderer on the loose!"

"Sorry sir," said Fred, bowing his head a little. "Harry here forgot something in the Potions Classroom, so we figured we'd help him find it so Snape wouldn't give him a zero on his homework. It was wrong of us."

"Yeah, we'll go back to the common room, now."

"Yes, you will, but first; what is that behind your back, Mr. Weasley?"

Fred had not had time to fully hide the map, and so, though it looked almost physically painful, he pulled out the now-blank parchment.

"Just some parchment, sir," George answered this time.

"Uh-huh, well, I'll take it if you don't mind." Reluctantly, the twins handed it over, and Leila hoped they could just head back now, but Lupin continued. "I'm very disappointed in all four of you. Sneaking around the castle at night is very dangerous, especially now. I do not want to catch you at it again, understand?"

"Yes sir," Harry managed, while Leila wasn't sure whether to trust her voice, and so settled with a nod.

They made their way out of Lupin's sight, and the Potter twins headed for the stairs when they were pulled by the Weasley twins down a tunnel.

"Where are we going?" Leila hissed.

"Professor Lupin said to go back to the common room!" Harry added.

"Yeah, well, what he doesn't know won't hurt him," said Fred, and that wicked smirk was back in place.

"Besides," George reasoned, "he doesn't know how to work the map anyway, so who's the wiser? And you do want to know why Pettigrew's dot has moved, don't you?" The dark-haired siblings turned to each other, equally torn, before Leila sighed in defeat.

"Lead on."

Fred and George grinned.

OoO

The door had been flung open almost the instant after they knocked, and instead of being angry, Hagrid gathered Harry and Leila into a crushing, tearful hug.

"Ye came!" He sobbed, huge tears rolling down his face, and Fred and George awkwardly slipped in, closing Hagrid's front door. "I was going ter write a letter ter yeh, but here yeh are!" Eventually, he let them down and Fang started his regimen of jumping and licking. Leila glanced up to see Fred at the stove boiling water while George searched for teabags and couldn't help but smile. It seemed Molly Weasley's advice on calming people down had been passed down to all of her sons.

"Hagrid, what's the matter?" Harry asked, attempting to console their large friend. Still crying, Hagrid showed them a letter; the date of Buckbeak's appeal.

"You lost the hearing?" Leila asked, feeling a little guilty that they had nearly forgotten about Hagrid's troubles with his Hippogriff.

"What do we do? There's no one in here but Hagrid and Fang, and we don't have the map," Leila whispered to Fred, but he put a finger to his lips.

"Cheer up, Hagrid, I'm sure things will turn out fine," George said as he placed a cup of tea in front of the large man. "Besides, I'm sure Fang doesn't like to see you so sad, or any other creatures, be them man, beast, or specter, that hang about here."

Hagrid took a large gulp of the tea, blew his nose on his handkerchief, and said, "Well, thank yeh Fred. Er—well, whichever you are. Molly an' Arthur oughtta be proud ter have raised all of yeh. Good kids. Charlie always talked real nice about yeh when he was here. Loved the animals, he did." Hagrid blinked and his beady eyes seemed to light up in recognition. "Hang on, speaking of animals, and yer brothers—" He stood, went over to a cabinet, and pulled out a little container, from which he produced—

"Scabbers!" All four exclaimed. The rat looked frightened for it's life, and had lost even more fur.

"Hagrid, where did you find him?" Harry asked, incredulous, while Fred and George over Scabbers 'giving Ron the slip'.

"He was in the grass an' I happened upon 'im," the Care of Magical Creatures professor replied. "Be careful with him now, he looks in pretty bad shape."

"Yeah, he's been like this all year," Harry told him as the rat was gingerly handed to Leila.

"How do you reckon he lost that toe, eh? Do yeh know?"

"He's always been like that," George informed them.

"So we didn't find our ghost, but we found Scabbers. Well, at least Ron will be happy," Fred commented.

"Ghost? What ghost?" Hagrid asked.

"Well, this may seem silly Hagrid, but we found this map, see, and it showed all these people in Hogwarts," Leila felt safe to tell Hagrid, it was obvious the man had been at the bottle some before they arrived. "And there was this one dot that said 'Peter Pettigrew' hanging around Harry's dorm—ow! Scabbers, stop scratching!" The rat was in full blown panic for some unknown reason, but she wasn't about to let Ron's pet disappear again.

"Pettigrew! Well, there's not a body left o'him ter make a dot with on a map, it'd just be his finger!" Harry grimaced at Hagrid's inadvertent reminder of his parent's friend's murder, but George paused for a moment.

"A finger, huh?"

"And when Scabbers disappears, Pettigrew's dot moves right to where we find him again…" the red-haired boys were looking at each other oddly, as if trying to work out a particularly difficult puzzle. But that was when Scabbers sunk his teeth into her finger.

"Argh!" She couldn't help dropping him in reaction to the pain, but she quickly moved to intercept his dart towards the door. "Scabbers, honestly you're the biggest menace of an animal since Aunt Marge's bulldog Ripper!"

Animal….what had Hermione said? Human-to-animal transfiguration? But what did that have to do with any of this, all McGonagall had talked about today was some complex rules and theories on becoming—"

"Animagi!" She breathed, but then someone pounded on the door behind her and Fang shrunk back with a growl.

"Hagrid, open the door!" And everyone, humans and animals, tensed.

"Professor Lupin? What's he doing out here?" Hagrid questioned them, but then the door was opened—the Weasley's had forgotten to lock it.

In the doorway stood Professor Lupin, brandishing his lit wand over the activated Marauder's Map. And Leila saw her name in front of his, and in front of her—

Four exclamations of shock were heard, and she whirled around in time to see a filthy, balding man who had not been there before snatch a knife from Hagrid's counter and press it to her throat. Leila's arms were captured and she was roughly shoved in front of Peter Pettigrew so that she acted as a human shield from four wands and an umbrella.

"I don't want to—to _kill_ anybody," Pettigrew wheezed, and his breath was hot on her neck and coming in panicked gasps. "Just—just let me out of here. Let me leave, and she doesn't get hurt."

"Peter—" Lupin started and Leila could see the anger, fear, and hurt all displayed on his face.

"You too, Remus! Let me through, or I'll-I'll do it!"

Professor Lupin seemed to struggle with what to do and Leila stared at his with wide, terrified eyes. His shoulders slumped in defeat, and he stepped aside.

Pettigrew had to nudge her once or twice to get her moving, she was so frozen out of fear. Consciously aware of how close the blade was to her skin, the two began to edge out the door, always with her facing the others to ensure no one tried attacking the man.

Hagrid's jaw was dropped in complete shock and horror, the twins were trembling—with what she wasn't sure—but Harry. Harry's knuckles were white on his wand handle and his teeth were clenched in frustration and rage.

"I—I'm just taking her to the edge of the forest," the rat-turned-man said. "Then I'll let her go." She refused to even swallow, though her mouth was very dry, as the hand that held the knife was trembling. It was clear that the man was terrified and inexperienced, but no one pointed it out. He still had the knife. "Not a word, Remus. Not a warning to anyone in the castle.

They were at least twenty feet away from the hut before Lupin said anything at all. And he didn't break his promise; he did not warn anyone _in_ the castle.

"Sirius! Sirius, we _need_ you!"

**Was really not planning for another cliff-hanger, but this was getting on five pages. Figured that was plenty long. So, please please let me know what you think of the chapter! Thanks so much for reading, we're almost at the end of the third year! Review please!**


	14. Chapter 14: Rat Trap

**Aaaand, another chapter. I got to admit, I got an anonymous review that left me pretty bummed about this story…the only consolation I had was that they were kind of right; the first few chapters suck A LOT. They're terrible. But I'd rather finish the story before I even consider going back and editing/revamping them. Otherwise we'll never get out of third year. So I apologize for my terrible four-years-ago writing.**

**Dobby's Polka-Dotted Sock**

**Chapter Fourteen:**

**Rat Trap**

"SIRIUS!"

At Professor Lupin's shout, Pettigrew started and yanked sharply on Leila's hair, intending to move faster. She narrowly avoided getting sliced by the knife, and began to walk backwards at his quickening pace. But to her right, Leila saw something emerge from the Forbidden Forest; a large, black animal charging on all fours, teeth bared in a ferocious snarl.

Pettigrew let out a terrified yelp of surprise, but the bear-like dog was already in range, knocking them both to the ground, her a little more gently so. The knife flew out of the supposedly dead man's hand and he was pinned beneath the animal.

"Sirius, stop!" Commanded Lupin, who was already at the head of the group now rushing from the cabin. The dog, for his part, had looked about to tear Pettigrew's throat out right there on the grounds, but in an almost human gesture stopped to turn his head in the Defense teacher's direction, gray eyes stormy, but hesitant.

That was enough time for Pettigrew, who had caught his breath, to transform quickly into the rat they all had been so familiar with, and begin to speed through the grass.

"Stop!" said Harry, though knowing how futile the action was, and Leila, still frozen on the ground from shock could only watch as the dog with growl gave chase to the rodent he was rapidly loosing in the taller grass—

Two disembodied arms emerged, and hands expert at handling a rat caught up the animagus before it could change course. The dog stopped sniffing the air in front of him, and Hermione pulled the Invisibility Cloak off herself and Ron.

"Ron! How did—" One of the twins began.

"What is—" Said the other.

"What's goin' on?" Hagrid boomed over them both.

"I'll gladly explain, Hagrid," said Lupin as he walked over to Ron and Hermione. "Here, Ron, I can put bindings on him." Ron held the struggling rat out and Lupin waved his wand, creating ropes that tied, knotted, and double-knotted around the former pet. "Now, for explanations—"

"Oh yes, Lupin, do go on. It should be entertaining at least," said a voice with an audible sneer. Only now did Leila register the light spilling out from the open castle doors.

"Now, now Severus, Remus can explain his actions once we move back to the castle. This isn't the safest environment," Dumbledore's voice. She felt a strange out-of-body relief; while intellectually she knew Dumbledore would somehow make this all make sense, she couldn't seem to bring herself to get up.

"You're okay, right?" Harry was pulling her up by the arms and she found the feeling came back into her legs and so she staggered to her feet.

"Yeah, not a scratch," she meant to beam confidently so as to reassure him, but even she could feel her smile waver. Somehow the whole group managed to find their way to the Hospital Wing, and it wasn't until Madam Pomfrey made her sit on one of the beds that she realized Professor McGonagall was also among them. She supposed they were here because this many people—and animals—could not fit in the Headmaster's office.

"Tsk, tsk," Madam Pomfrey tutted, looking with some kind of special wand light in her eyes. "Post-trauma numbness, really Ms. Potter, what did I tell you about your stress levels?"

"Something about keeping them low, I think," she mumbled, ears a little pink at the teachers' scrutiny, and her friends as well. Bloody hell, even the dog was staring at her as if concerned!

"Right," said Dumbledore, as if calling a faculty meeting to attention, and not this strange congregation. "I believe the first question would be, how did some of our former students become illegal Animagi, and why Peter Pettigrew has been living in hiding as Mr. Weasley's pet rat all the time that we've believed him dead?" Madam Pomfrey spluttered a little, but seemed to take it as her cue to leave, and retreated to her office.

Lupin gave a sigh. "It's my fault really, Headmaster," and almost like the young boy in his school days, Remus Lupin recounted the tale of his lycanthropy, his friends attempts to relieve his suffering, and what he had believed to have happened in late October all those years ago. "But I was wrong, Sirius was not the traitor," he concluded. "Can you forgive me, old friend?" Here, Lupin turned to the large dog standing calmly among them, and Hermione, who was rather close, gave a gasp of realization and shrunk back a little. The dog looked at Dumbledore, who gave a nod, and the animal shifted into a form that Leila easily recognized from the wanted posters.

Even knowing, quite a few of them gasped at the sight of the escaped convict, while Snape looked as though something foul had been shoved under his nose.

"Of course I'll forgive you, Remus," said Sirius Black, his voice hoarse but very…normal, much more than she had expected. "If you can forgive me, that is." The two embraced like the brothers they had been in the past, and Dumbledore wiped a tear from his eye.

"Well, if you will excuse me," he said, "I believe I should be taking our very much alive Mr. Pettigrew to the Ministry. Minerva, I trust you can explain things to Poppy. Our guest, Mr. Black, looks as though he could use some rest and a few healing potions to start with." Snape, fortunately, left with Dumbledore, which left Leila, the other students, Professors Lupin and McGonagall, and Sirius Black to explain things to Madam Pomfrey. The medi-witch thankfully did not have a heart attack, and sent Sirius Black straight to bed, requested and received permission from McGonagall to keep Leila overnight to her chagrin, and shooed the rest out of the Hospital Wing.

The scruffy, gaunt, dark-haired man fell onto one of the beds with a sigh of contentment and drifted off to sleep rather quickly, all things considered. It took a Dreamless Sleep potion to knock Leila out for the night.

OoO

When she returned to consciousness, the ward's only other occupant was devouring an enormous breakfast as though he had never eaten in his life. Though were she to be fair, she doubted he'd had much to sustain himself on in the forest. He heard her sit up, and turned to see her with half a piece of bacon sticking out of his mouth.

"Er—hi," she nearly squeaked, and he quickly swallowed the morsel down before replying.

"Hello," he said back, his voice still rather hoarse, and he took a large gulp from the water jug sitting on the table beside him.

"So," she tried, "Thanks for, erm, the save back there."

"Nothing to be thanking me for, the rat had it coming," his voice was stronger, and coupled with the dark look on his face, she couldn't help but lean away a bit. Shaking preconceived notions like who was a mass-murderer and who wasn't did not come too easy, after all.

He noticed her movement, and his features cleared up instantly. "You're Leila, aren't you?" She nodded and a slight grin stole over his lips, and she wondered when was the last time he had had cause to smile. "I thought so. You look so much like him, you know?"

She blinked. "Like James—my dad?" Even now it was somewhat surreal to think of having had parents at some point. "I thought that was Harry?"

"Nah. Sure, he's got the messy hair and glasses, but you have that long Potter nose. His eyes, too." She couldn't help but smile tentatively; no one had ever told her she looked much like anybody, except related to Harry.

Her brother slowly pushed the Hospital Wing door open at that point, and glanced around. Spotting them, he took careful steps toward the pair, coming to sit on the end of Leila's bed.

"McGonagall excused me from classes today. They thought it'd be best if I—well," he glanced at Sirius. "It's, er, nice to meet you. I mean, I guess I met you before, but, well—"

Sirius didn't tease or seem unimpressed. He simply smiled and drank it all in.

Rumors flying as they did in Hogwarts, Madam Pomfrey soon had to place a screening curtain around Sirius' bed to insure that no prying eyes of students would see him, and was beginning his regimen of health potions anyway, so instead Harry and Leila chatted pleasantly for some time. They both were curious as to how Sirius' new found innocence would impact their lives; it had escaped neither of the twin's memory that the man was their godfather.

A week later, after Leila was discharged from the ward, their answer came.

"You know, I have a house. It's not the most livable in, but I could get it fixed up no problem. Or hell, I could just buy a new one; I don't even like the house." The Potter twins stared at the now much healthier looking man as he spoke, hardly believing their ears. Was Sirius asking what they thought he was?

"I have good news for you Sirius," Dumbledore said cheerfully as he glided into the Hospital Wing. Madam Pomfrey emerged, automatically shushing the new arrival for mentioning their secret guest's name, but seemed mollified by her employer's presence. "Front page of the Daily Prophet this morning. Pettigrew's confession under Veritaseum was so conclusive along with some newly found evidence that had been swept under the rug by the previous administration; they aren't even requesting you to come to trial."

Sirius reached for and held the newspaper reverently in his hands, and looked close to tears. "Thank you, Professor Dumbledore," he managed, voice almost as hoarse as when he had first arrived.

"No need my boy, you deserved this. And please, it's Albus. You're no longer my student." The screening curtains were removed and Sirius was officially a free man.

Later that evening, everyone involved in the adventure came to celebrate, which was only allowed because there were no other patients in the ward.

"Congratulations, Sirius," Lupin said with a smile brighter than many of his students had ever seen.

"Thanks Remus. You know, I'm very grateful, to all of you," he looked around at those present and they smiled back at him.

"That reminds me," Leila asked Ron quietly, "How did you know to be there to catch Pettigrew?"

He grinned sheepishly. "It was Hermione really. I came back from that detention with Snape, and she tells me to run upstairs and grab the cloak because you and Harry were in big trouble. Apparently it was her from the future."

"That's why she was so upset when we left!" She exclaimed quietly. "She knew that Pettigrew was going to—!"

"Hey, Pomfrey said not to worry about it," Ron reminded her. "It's in the past; he'll never have the chance again."

But Peter Pettigrew, also known as Wormtail, escaped Auror custody shortly before he was to be loaded onto a boat for Azkaban. The Auror on duty, Dawlish, was on the chopping block job-wise. Sirius had to be transferred to St. Mungo's to ensure he didn't try to hunt the rat down.

OoO

It wasn't until Easter Break that they were able to visit Sirius again. Ron, his twin brothers, and Hermione tagged along, with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley acting as chaperones along with Dumbledore. The brunette was able to make it because she had finally dropped Muggle Studies from her schedule, allowing it to become normal at last. Hermione had decided that the stress of time-travel and knowing about things that were going to happen was far too much, and her friends agreed wholeheartedly.

The man looked even better than ever, and Leila could clearly see the resemblance between him and the best man in her parent's wedding photo. His skin had become tanner and less waxy, he was a healthy weight, and his eyes seemed…alive. When he saw the Potters, his face instantly lit up, and Harry and Leila couldn't help but grin back. Not many times did someone smile just at the sight of them.

"How have you been? Classes alright? Did McGonagall give my presents to you back yet?" Sirius had indeed been the one to send the Firebolts, and Harry and Leila had spent five minutes each thanking him profusely for the expensive gifts.

"Classes are great, except Divination and Potions," Harry told him.

"We're getting the brooms back just in time for Harry to beat Malfoy into the next season," Leila added with a wicked smile.

"Excellent," Sirius said, and the three Weasley boys echoed his sentiments.

Soon, the kids were all talking together while Dumbledore and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley conversed. Sirius turned to the Potter twins and asked quietly. "Harry, Leila, I was sort of wondering; you see, I've been making arrangements with Remus' help and I've found a place that I think I'd like to live in. It's up to you, but I'd certainly be very happy if maybe you'd both consider visiting me during the summer. Would that be alright?" They could clearly see the doubt and nervousness on his face, but neither could see why.

"Come live with you?" Harry asked. "Instead of at the Dursley's?"

"Well, yes, but I understand that they've been raising you all this time and—"

"That would be bloody brilliant!" Leila interrupted, and Harry beamed along with her. Sirius seemed shocked, but a smile of relief spread across his face.

"Really? You want to? I—that, well, you have no idea what this means to me. I have to finish up arrangements and such after I'm released from the hospital, but everything should be ready at least by the early summer."

"That's great, never having to see the Dursley's again is what we've always wanted," Leila said, the grin never leaving her face. "We don't really keep anything there so we can just—" But a gentle, yet firm hand came to rest on her shoulder.

"I couldn't help but overhear," said Professor Dumbledore, "And I have to inform you that Leila and Harry _must_ return to the Dursley's this summer. It is imperative that they do so." Sirius frowned a little, but wasn't objecting, and so Leila whirled around to face the Headmaster at the same time shaking his aged hand from her shoulder.

"Why, sir? They're awful, we hate it there!" Harry nodded in agreement with her words.

"It's for your safety. You see, Leila, when your mother died she left a protection on you, which I used to create wards. As long as you live in the same house with a blood relation to your mother, no one may enter that place that wishes to do either of you harm, provided you call that place home."

Harry raised an eyebrow at this, and said, "Home, sir?"

Dumbledore smiled at her brother and said, "Yes, my boy, home."

"Look," Leila told him, "the only reason we call that place home, is because we had nowhere else to go. It's a home simply because it has four walls and a roof, not because we like it there." By now the Weasleys and Hermione were all watching the conversation. "And I'd rather take the risk and live with Sirius than go back there for another day!"

"Live with him?" Mrs. Weasley interrupted, and she seemed almost in disbelief.

"What's wrong with that, Mrs. Weasley?" Harry asked the woman, and her face colored for a moment.

"It's not that there's anything _wrong_ with it, Harry dear, it's just well—Sirius is a nice man, but he's not—he's never taken care of a child, not to mention _two_!" Sirius' eye twitched, but he allowed the Weasley matriarch to continue. "If you both really want to stay somewhere else, you could have always asked- Arthur and I would love to have you!" Mr. Weasley nodded, but he kept a nervous watch of Sirius.

The old Marauder finally spoke, and it was in a perfectly polite tone even if it wasn't warm. "They are _my_ godchildren, Molly."

She turned even redder this time, but shot back, "That doesn't automatically make you an expert on how to raise them."

"Are you the judge of that?"

"No, but I certainly think I would have a good idea of what they need, having raised seven others!"

"Friends, friends," Dumbledore interrupted in his calm manner, but there was an underlying tone of command, "We should not argue amongst ourselves this way. Now, Harry, Leila, you _must_ remain at Privet Drive for a minimum of two weeks, is that clear?" Harry and Leila grudgingly nodded. "Excellent. After that, you may go to Sirius' if you so desire. Molly, I'm sorry, but Sirius does have legal custody over them and if they wish to stay with him, they can."

Mrs. Weasley turned teary eyes and a disappointed face upon the Potters. "Harry, Leila, do you really not want to live with us?" While they felt she was a perfectly kind woman and living with Ron and his siblings would be pretty fun—

"We're sorry, Mrs. Weasley," Harry answered diplomatically, "But we want to get to know Sirius. We'll certainly visit, if that's alright with you, of course."

"Of course it is, dears!" And she enveloped the both of them in a crushing embrace, one that they still weren't quite used to receiving even after knowing the woman for two years.

Even still, the return trip to school was somewhat awkward.

**Ok, I'm going to end it there, cause it's getting pretty long. Yay, Sirius being free! This is probably the end of third year, unless there's something extremely important I left out, in which case let me know. But also let me know what you thought of this chapter as well! Thanks for reading, and please review!**


	15. Chapter 15: New Surroundings

**And since there were no requests, we're on to the fourth year! I have plans for this one, guys.**

**Dobby's Polka-Dotted Sock**

**Chapter Fifteen:**

**New Surroundings**

"It's felt like forever, hasn't it?" Harry asked with a grin from the doorway as he watched her finish packing her trunk.

"I completely agree," Leila replied, slammed the trunk lid, and turned, hands on hips, satisfied to face her brother. "That everything?"

"Almost," he answered and crossed to the dresser where Hedwig rested in her cage. Carefully, so as not to disturb her too much, he picked it up, and the two descended the stairs of Number 4, Privet Drive. "You have Madam Pomfrey's instructions, right?"

Leila didn't bother to stop the groan. "Yes, Harry. It's not like you haven't memorized it or anything."

He had the grace to turn a little red. "Well, somebody has to—"

"Where are you going?" Dudley had come upon them in the hall and was looking with distaste at their luggage, particularly the owl cage.

"If you'd bothered to listen at breakfast, we're leaving to stay with our godfather," Leila told him, rolling her eyes at their sluggish cousin.

"Yeah, we're going to where there's _real_ food," Harry added with a rather wicked grin. It was certainly the best way to say goodbye to their dieting relation, and so the two decided to wait outside. They weren't sure how exactly Sirius was planning to get there, but they doubted he'd want to even go near the Dursleys.

They sat on their trunks by the curb, ignoring the strange looks from the neighbors, though secretly enjoying the effort Aunt Petunia would have to go through to cover it up, and returned old Mrs. Figg's friendly wave. The woman nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound of a powerful motor zooming down the street. Harry and Leila stood, blinking as Sirius skid into a stop on a large black motorcycle. It was probably the worst, most obnoxious thing he could have shown up in, and Harry and Leila both grinned.

"Hello you two, been waiting long?" He asked, shutting off the engine for a moment.

"Not that long, it's great to see you, Sirius," Harry replied, and both twins hugged their godfather.

"How are we all getting to your place on this?' Leila asked, gesturing to the bike.

"Well, I can take one of you on this, and ah, Remus is—here he comes—Remus has the car." Professor Lupin drove at a much slower pace, though in a rather shiny, black convertible, and pulled to a stop in front of the house. He waved merrily at the two and they did so as well.

"Can I ride the b—"

"Leila, Madam Pomfrey said no extreme activity until you check in with her this fall," Harry reminded, and though Sirius looked apologetic he nodded along to her brother's words.

"Fine," she scowled and muttered under her breath as she jumped into the passenger seat of the car, "He probably just wants an excuse to ride the bike, cheater."

"Cheer up, Leila," Remus said, "You can practice the Queen's wave while I chauffeur you to your vacation home."

Sirius, with Harry seated behind him, gunned the engine and sped off, leaving a second black skid mark in front of Number 4. Leila demonstrated her proficiency with the Queen's wave on the Dursleys who stood openmouthed at the window as Remus calmly followed.

OoO

She did feel slightly like royalty as Remus finally turned up a long gravel path and Sirius' home came into view. It was the largest house she had ever seen, not quite a mansion, but spacious and grand in its own way. She shielded her eyes from the sunlight reflecting off the large windows on the bottom floor. As Remus shut off the engine, Harry and Sirius emerged out of the front door and came down the steps to meet them.

"I just gave Harry a first view of the ground floor, but what do you guys think?" The black-haired man asked.

"It's amazing," Leila breathed.

"Incredible, Sirius," Harry added.

"We're glad," Remus said, as he got out of the car. Sirius opened the passenger door for her, so Leila stepped out as well. "It's Sirius' home, but he's asked me to live here seeing as it's so big."

"You're not going back to that shed you were calling a house, Remus," Sirius cut in. "Honestly, I could give Snape a piece of my mind for telling everyone about your lycanthropy."

"Nothing to be done about it now," Remus sighed, "And we always said back at school that job was cursed. I'm almost grateful I got off so easy."

"That's true," Harry agreed, "you should see our first to Defense professors. Er—well, you can only see one of them, actually…" He scratched at the back of his neck awkwardly, and Leila looked away from the two adult's questioning gazes.

"So," Remus said after a pause, "dinner then, shall we?"

"Sounds like an excellent suggestion," Sirius said, and led them inside. Leila found herself wandering through the large, high-ceilinged rooms, hands trailing over furniture and smooth walls. She eventually came across the kitchen where the three men were starting on dinner, as ironic a picture as that painted.

"You make your own food?" Somehow she hadn't pictured Sirius to do so.

"Yes, I do, as inconvenient as that is sometimes," he answered. "But getting a House-Elf wasn't at the top of my list, and they only one my family still owns is senile and hates me."

"You mean they can be weirder than normal?" Harry asked, and Leila knew the boy was thinking of their strange 'friend' Dobby.

OoO

"You know, Remus," Leila began. In the couple weeks since they arrived, the twins had become comfortable enough to drop the professor title. "I get that finishing my homework early is probably smart, but it doesn't really seem fair that Harry's out there whipping around on his Firebolt." The two were each curled up in armchairs, and Remus glanced up from his book to look out the window where Harry was a blur practicing maneuvers on the pitch that Sirius had.

"It's not really the homework, Leila," Remus finally said, "We just want to make sure you're following Madam Pomfrey's directions."

Leila almost wanted to hex the school nurse at this point. "So does that mean 'no fun' then? I'll excuse you and Sirius, but Harry seems to have forgotten I'm not fragile. If I don't get out and _do_ something, I'm going to drive myself insane all on my own!"

"Well we can't have that, can we?" Sirius said from where he was leaning in the doorframe. "Nothing for it but to let you out there."

Leila practically leaped from the chair. "Really?"

"Why not, we hardly ever listened to Pomfrey at your age, even when we were in the school itself."

"Alright, alright," Remus conceded. "But how about you finish your potions essay first, that's not one to put off." Leila sighed, shoulders slumping, and Sirius' face scrunched up at the mention of Snape's subject. But she sunk back into the seat anyway, however grudgingly.

OoO

They ended up inviting the Weasley's over for a day at Sirius' instead, partly because the house was larger, and also because Ron and the twins had heard about the Quidditch Pitch.

"And anyway," Ron added when they arrived by Floo Powder, "Percy would probably be yelling at us to shut it the whole time."

"Really, why's that?" Harry asked curiously.

"He's got a desk job at the Ministry these days," Fred said, and they could easily tell what he thought of it.

"Takes it very seriously," George added, "No one's to disturb him while he works on a report about cauldron bottom thickness or whatever rubbish."

"He skips meals for it. Mum's been going spare," concluded the first.

"Wow, sounds pretty dull." She said.

"Well, Percy's been destined for dullness."

"That's the understatement of the century," Ginny cut in. "Now are we going out to that pitch or what?"

"They're letting you play now?" Leila asked the other girl as they made their way across the lawn.

"Yeah, they finally realized how stupid it is trying to play with three people, so now we can have something closer to a match with two-on-two," she informed her.

"Alright, how about a Firebolt on each team, a Weasley twin on each team, and a girl on each team," Fred said once they got there.

"Why, are we some kind of handicap?" Ginny asked with a hand on her hip and Leila arched an eyebrow.

"Not at all," George said, raising a hand in defense, "It just makes dividing the teams easier. That way it can be, say, you, me, and Harry on one and Fred, Leila, and Ronnie on the other. That sound agreeable?"

"Perfectly alright by me," Fred replied, and the others nodded.

After an exhilarating two wins and three losses, they made their way back to the house for some food.

"Yes!" Sirius exclaimed as they all entered the kitchen, an official looking letter held in his hand.

"What is it?" Harry asked, while all six children sat around the counter. Remus, who had been kind enough to prepare sandwiches, set the plate down in front of them.

"The Ministry's given me tickets to see the World Cup—in the Top Box! And two for my lovely godchildren, of course. Haha, I've got them bending over backwards doing favors for me!"

"You're really getting your money's worth our of this whole false imprisonment thing, aren't you?" Remus asked with a straight face, although his lips almost twitched into a smile at the end.

"I'll bleed them dry, Moony!"

OoO

Ron wrote a few days afterward to tell them that his father had gotten them tickets, in the Top Box as well. Harry and Leila were quite happy to receive that news, and even more so when Hermione wrote to say she would come as well, since Arthur Weasley had two extra. Sirius arranged with Ron's parents that the three of them would meet up with Arthur and the children to take the Portkey to the World Cup together.

OoO

_She was sliding along cool grass, weaving around the large headstones and markers. Her head rose off the ground and her tongue darted out to sniff the air. The Muggle had been here recently. _

_Slithering at a faster pace, she came to the rat hole that had become her own personal door and slipped through into the entrance hall. Everything was covered in dust, yet it was obvious it had been disturbed just moments ago, and the place reeked of his stench._

_Slowly, stalking she made her way up the thickly carpeted stairs. And there he was: the Muggle gardener, listening to her Master's plans! Her first impulse was to strike, and yet she hesitated. The Master would wish to deal with the intruder himself. So she passed him by, for now._

_She entered the room, ignoring the foul pudgy human who shrunk back at her appearance, and curled up on the rug in front of her master. She barely lifted her head to hiss her report._

"_Masssster, the Muggle gardener issss outssside the door, lissstening to your every word."_

"_Thank you, Nagini," he replied, his voice high and cold as always. He spoke human words to the servant, who retrieved the old Muggle._

_More useless words, until she saw the wand tip emerge from the chair, and the familiar flash of green. The Muggle dropped like a stone to the floor. Red eyes peered down at her, before her Master spoke again._

"_Dinner, Nagini." She uncoiled and slithered to the dead man, opening her jaws wider than Leila ever could._

**So, thoughts? Next chapter will be, obviously, the World Cup. And then we'll be heading back to Hogwarts! What trials will await them there? If I receive reviews, I am more motivated to update, so please let me know what you thought of this chapter! Thanks so much for reading, a don't forget to review!**


	16. Chapter 16: Let the Games Begin

**I'm glad people are reviewing and letting me know some of their thoughts. I apologize for the slower updates, but I have school and also like to update my other stories to try and stay somewhat fair to all my readers, but here's another chapter for you!**

**Dobby's Polka-Dotted Sock**

**Chapter Sixteen:**

**Let the Games Begin**

"Leila, Leila you've got to get up. Merlin, don't you want to go see the match?"

"Nghh….what?" Her throat felt dry and she had particularly bad breath this morning, her eyes barely wanted to open, she couldn't see practically any light when she did, and Sirius was expecting her to wake up?

He chuckled, "I know it's early, but if you want time for food and to fix that bed head then you should think about waking up now. You're being just as difficult as Harry about this." That fact that Harry had been awake for longer cheered her up in its own way, and Sirius left to finish breakfast while she slowly stretched and climbed from the bed. Leila looked in full-length mirror after dressing in faded jeans and a hooded sweatshirt, and realized she looked quite dreadful. Huge bags were under her eyes and they were so bloodshot she would almost believe them red if not for the glimpses of hazel irises she could make out.

"Can I come in?" It was Harry's voice, muffled on the other side of the door.

"Sure, go ahead." He entered, looking just as sleepy and sat at the edge of her bed. "What's up?" She asked his reflection in the mirror.

"I'm not really sure," he admitted, then looked away while forming what exactly he wanted to say. "I remember bits and pieces…of this really bizarre dream I had last night. It had something to do with a house and an old man…and I think Voldemort." He met her eyes in the glass then, and saw the shock and a confirmation of something akin to understanding. "Anyway, my scar was kind of bothering me for awhile after that, before I finally managed to get back to sleep. Did anything like that happen to you?"

"Well, yeah," she said, distractedly pulling her hair into a loose, messy ponytail. Harry didn't need to know she had woken just in time to vomit in her bathroom toilet; he'd only be able to worry over it. Decision made, she whirled about in her socks to face him. "Let's grabbed something to eat, I feel like my dinner's just vanished."

"Alright then," Harry said, falling back into ease now that he had gotten the dream off his chest. He wasn't abnormal then; and neither was Leila.

OoO

They Floo'ed to the Burrow and met up with the equally grumpy and sleepy Weasleys plus Hermione, and an almost irritatingly chipper Mr. Weasley.

"How have you both been? What's Sirius like? What kind of house is it? I've missed you all so much, tell me everything," Hermione asked the Potter twins, and they happily began filling her in on their new life with their godfather. That is, before a fully grown man dropped out of the tree in front of them.

"Bloody hell!" Leila exclaimed, almost falling backward into Hermione as the other girl shrieked.

"Wha—oh, Cedric!" Harry gasped. Cedric, for his part looked first alarmed, then guilty, and finally settled for sheepish.

"Er, sorry about that, Harry. Didn't see you three down there; I was waiting for my father to catch up."

Cedric's father, Amos Diggory, turned the bend just then with Mr. Weasley and an extremely bored looking Sirius. They seemed to be chatting about office work.

"Ah, boys, Ginny, Hermione, Harry, and Leila, I'd like you all to meet Mr. Amos Diggory. I'm sure you already know Cedric here." For some reason the Weasley boys were all glowering at the Hufflepuff and for the life of her, Leila couldn't remember why that would be. Until Amos Diggory spoke.

"Bless me, Harry Potter, really? First Sirius Black and now this! What a strange day. Pleasure to meet you, and you as well, Ms. Leila," he shook each of their hands, grinning amazingly, and then said, "I've heard all about you, Mr. Potter, but to see the Seeker my son almost bested last year—"

"Dad," Cedric interrupted, exasperated and almost embarrassed. Of course, Cedric had almost caught the Snitch when Harry had fallen during the match with the Dementors. "It's in the past. Harry caught the Snitch, and he did a fine job of it I say." Leila turned her head away, not quite able to look the older boy in the eye as he said it.

"Well sure," Amos disputed, talking more to his son than anyone else, "but it was a lucky time-out call for him when he fell off his broom. _You_ didn't fall off though, did you Ced? That's something to tell your grandchildren. You nearly beat Harry Potter in Quidditch." Sirius was pinching the bridge of his nose and Fred and George looked like they were biting their tongues to keep from saying anything. Ron, Hermione, and Ginny all stared at Mr. Diggory like they couldn't believe the words emerging from his lips. The two Potters hardly could ever, but then Mr. Diggory turned back to them. "I'm sure Mr. Potter understands."

Fortunately Mr. Weasley reminded everyone of the time before Harry had to respond, so they started up the hill, Cedric muttering, "Sorry about him," and began the climb. Harry was slowing compared to the others so Leila took up his pace and again asked,

"What's wrong?"

"Well, Mr. Diggory was right, wasn't he? I fell off my broom and Cedric didn't. He's better than I am, but everybody thinks _I_ pulled through; that _I_ saved the match. But I didn't, I used you Leila."

"Oh come off it, it was Wood's idea."

"Maybe, but the fact still stands—"

"It stands nothing, I would have fainted if I'd been there, too. Remus is right; we have a lot of bad memories compared to most people. I mean, what's the worst thing that's happened to Cedric Diggory? Cho Chang said no to a date to Hogsmeade?" She snickered a little, but Harry's mouth dropped open in shock.

"Why Cho Chang?" He asked with almost too much interest.

"Well, if I remember what Lavender said, they're kind of a thing," she explained, not really sure if Harry understood what 'things' were. His face took on a dejected look, though, and Leila felt a growing suspicion. "Why the interest in Cho Chang? You like her?"

"What?" His eyes were wide and his face quickly reddening. "No, I just- I've seen her before—she plays for the Ravenclaw—"

"Alright, alright, don't need to be so defensive with me," she grinned teasingly. Though thinking about what else Lavender had said about Cedric Diggory being the most attractive boy in school reminded her of how disheveled she looked this morning. It was slightly humiliating to think on.

"Merlin's Beard, what are you two lagging behind for?" Ron puffed from above, and the twins hurried to catch up with their friends.

Gasping and feeling more tired than when they first woke up they group crested the hill and began looking for what Mr. Weasley called a Port-Key. He ended up having them grab an old boot which seemed to hurl them through space until they tumbled down into a grassy field.

"Well, good speaking with you Arthur, come on Ced!" With that Amos and his son left, which seemed to relieve the tension that had taken over everyone. With ease, the children followed Mr. Weasley and Sirius to two tents.

"Well now," Mr. Weasley said, "How do we want to organize this? Boys in one and girls in the other?" There was a general consensus and they got started setting everything up. Ginny decided to commandeer food preparations before her father got too carried away, and asked Harry, Leila, Hermione, and Ron to fetch some water.

"Making a fire is easier than organizing everything in the tents anyway," the redhead muttered to the other two girls. They stifled laughs at the younger one's comment, leaving as Fred and George began complaining.

On their way to fill the bucket Ginny gave them, the four ran into Oliver Wood who immediately dragged them over to introduce to his mother.

"Honestly, mum, Harry here's the best Seeker I've seen since Charlie Weasley, he could easily make any professional team!" Though her brother protested, she could tell these words of confidence were just what he needed to hear at that moment.

"Thanks, Oliver, you've boosted my brother's ego back to normal levels," she joked.

"Oh really? Why, what happened?"

"We saw the Diggorys," Ron explained to the Puddlemore United Reserve Keeper.

"Ah, well, Cedric's dad was always kind of…obsessed with his son's skills. I honestly feel bad for him. He's really not that bad a bloke."

"I guess," Ron replied, not really seeming to think much about it.

"Honestly, Ron," Hermione berated as they continued. "Just because he plays on a different House Team does not automatically make Cedric an enemy! Quidditch."

"You just don't get it, Hermione," Ron told her, "Quidditch isn't just a sport. For people like Oliver—for a lot of people here!—it's a life."

"I pity the life of a Chuddley Cannon player," Leila interjected, and Harry laughed as Ron turned with a red and indignant face to her on behalf of his favorite team.

OoO

After overhearing a rather interesting conversation between "Artie" and another man in line for water, the four friends returned to their part of the campsite and delivered the water to Ginny. The Weasleys, Hermione, and Sirius' group all sat around the boiling pot and chatted, coworkers of Mr. Weasley's coming to join them for brief moments. Shortly after the three oldest Weasley boys arrived, two very important Ministry workers stopped by.

"Ludo Bagman, this is a surprise," Arthur commented, rising to shake the smaller, stouter man's hand. Mr. Bagman returned it cheerily enough, and gave a,

"Hello there!" to everyone seated. Percy shook the man's hand as well, but Leila noticed that his face seemed scrunched up in distaste.

"Everyone, this is Ludo Bagman, Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports," Mr. Weasley introduced.

"Hello, Mr. Bagman. Last time I've heard that name you were playing for the Wasps. I see you've dressed for the occasion," Sirius spoke, gesturing with a hand to the black and yellow striped robes the other wore.

"Oh my, Sirius Black, a pleasure! Yes, I thought I might dig these out again; it certainly brings back the memories! Arthur I was wondering—and you may participate as well, sir—if you'd like to make a little wager on the match?"

"Oh no, Ludo, I really shouldn't," Mr. Weasley said, glancing quickly at the students around him. Percy was very thinly disguising his disapproval at this point. Fred and George managed to get a bet in before their next guest appeared.

"Ludo."

"Oh, Barty! There you are, where have you been?"

"Looking for you, actually." The new man was everything Bagman was not. He was tall, thin, and very crisp and clean. Percy jumped from his seat at once, and Leila wouldn't have been surprised if he snapped a salute.

"Mr. Crouch!"

"Oh, Weatherby, didn't see you there," Crouch responded absentmindedly. When the two men left shortly after, Percy's younger siblings hardly let up teasing him until the sun started to set.

"Looks about time to head to our seats," Sirius said, and Mr. Weasley nodded in agreement.

After a climb nearly as grueling as the trek up the hill that morning had been, the whole group made it to the Top Box. The view was perfectly worth it, of course. The field looked like a tiny patch of green and rows of rows of people becoming bigger and bigger dots as they stands went up and up. The only other occupants of the box were Cornelius Fudge, a foreign-looking guest of his who turned out to be the Bulgarian Minister of Magic, and a terrified looking House-Elf who had its face in its hands. As they tried to figure out who was sitting where, Leila almost plopped into the seat next to the creature.

"NO!" She shrieked, for the voice seemed particularly high, and Leila jumped, grabbing Ron's shoulder to keep from toppling over the front row of seats.

"Bloody hell," Ron muttered, rubbing at his ears and looked at the House-Elf. "What was that for?"

"Winky is sorry, miss," and Winky really did look it, "but Winky is saving this seat for her master."

"Oh, er, right. Sorry," she apologized, feeling a little silly; why else would a House-Elf be in the Top Box? Hermione, who had taken the seat next to the reserved one, was looking at the creature in concern and pity. When Leila dropped into the seat on her other side, Hermione turned to whisper to her.

"That poor thing! She's obviously scared of heights, so what's she doing up here?"

"Well, it was an order, Hermione. It's that or shutting her ears in the oven or something," Leila tried to explain. The only experience she had with House-Elfs was Dobby, and she had the suspicion he was an exception. Hermione, meanwhile, was horrified.

"That's cruel, and absolutely barbaric! Why do wizard's even own House-Elfs?"

"Speaking of House-Elfs," Harry muttered, turned around in his seat in front of them, "Look who's here."

"Oh brilliant," Ron groaned from next to Harry, "Malfoy." It turned out the Malfoy family had been invited by the Minister, and Draco scowled as he took the last seat next to her. She glowered back, and turned to see his parents sit with aristocratic grace in the top row; with some interest, Leila realized this was the first time she had ever seen the Slytherin boy's mother, and she looked distinctly uncomfortable in between Sirius and her husband. Her godfather didn't even look in her direction, let alone introduce himself. Perhaps they'd not been friendly with each other in school. If Mrs. Malfoy was like her son, Leila did not blame Sirius one bit.

It was becoming rather uncomfortable in her own row with no one speaking, so she decided for once to try and attempt conversation with the other. "How was you r holiday?" She asked.

Draco Malfoy looked about as shocked as she had ever seen him, but regained his bored, haughty expression quickly enough. "Quite satisfactory. I suppose you've enjoyed being Black's charity project." Harry obviously heard, for he scooted as far forward in his seat as possible, as far away from Malfoy as possible, so that Leila could even see his wand sticking out of his back jean pocket.

"Alright, fine you prick. I was willing to try and make this as un-awkward as possible, but fine be your usual self." He sneered as she purposefully turned back to Hermione.

"You know, it's really amazing how easily you're able to keep your grades up, Hermione. Did I ever tell you that? You make it seem so effortless, and yet you're way beyond anyone else in our class! Some random stranger would probably think you grew up around magic your whole life!" The brunette's lips twitched in amusement while Malfoy growled next to them.

Fortunately, Ludo Bagman chose then to show up and start the match.

**So there's another chapter, I hope you all enjoyed. I'm also hoping the interaction between Leila and Draco was satisfactory to a certain reviewer. Let me know what you thought, I know a lot of the middle was summary of what happened in the book, but I tried to speed it up as best as possible while still remaining coherent. Thank you for reading, and please review!**


	17. Chapter 17: Black Mob, Dark Mark

**Sorry for the lack of updates, but we were moving the computers around in our house, and now one of them has no internet for the time being. But I felt it was about time to update this one.**

**Dobby's Polka-Dotted Sock**

**Chapter Seventeen:**

**Black Mob, Dark Mark**

The mood was festive and fun, even the Bulgarian fans were in a somewhat cheerful mood. Their team had put up a valiant fight after all; Leila could barely breath when they realized the twins had actually won their bet, she was laughing so hard. She consented to allow Fred, who was dancing some sort of strange jig with his twin, to grab her by the arm and spin in a circle. Meanwhile, Harry and Ron were deep in a play-by-play of the match they had just witnessed. Everyone was in high spirits, and she wondered if this good mood would ever wind down.

Eventually she, Hermione, and Ginny made their excuses to the boys and went to their tent for bed.

"That was a wicked good match," Ginny remarked below her from the bottom bunk, as Hermione turned off the lamp.

"It sure was," Leila replied with a sleepy smile. She heard Hermione's covers rustle as the other girl got into her own bed.

"Yes, I think watching that match helped me to begin to understand why Quidditch is such a mania with wizards and witches. It's—"

" 'Mione?" Leila mumbled.

"Yes, Leila?"

"G'night." There was a pause in which she heard Ginny's muffled laugh.

"Good night, you two," Hermione said.

OoO

"…Fred? George? Did you blow somethin' up again?" Ginny was mumbling, only half-awake. Leila's eyes slowly opened, though gravity seemed to be protesting. She oddly both did and did not understand Ginny's instinctive question. Fred and George were nowhere in sight and yet something was burning.

Hermione yawned, and with that Leila began to become aware of other sounds. Thousands of pounding footsteps, smashing noises, the crackle of flames, and screams. Even through the canvas flaps of the tent she could tell something was brightly shining in the distance, and she was certain it wasn't the sun.

Ginny was rubbing her eyes now and Hermione was fully sat up in bed. The two older girls met each other's eyes, uncertain. Leila climbed down from the top bunk and all three girls wrapped bathrobes around themselves over their night clothes, donning slippers on their feet.

"I suppose we should have a look?" She asked, and Hermione nodded at this reasonable suggestion. She reached for the flap—

"Leila! Hermione! Ginny!" Sirius burst into the tent. Hermione and Ginny both gasped in fright, but she was embarrassed at having been the only one to scream. Her godfather placed steadying hands on each of her shoulders. "Good, you're awake. The place is under attack; nothing too dangerous, just a bunch of drunken idiots. But it's not quite safe here. You and the boys are to head for the woods, understand? We'll come and find you once it's over." He had a hard determination set on his face, and wand out. Leila fumbled for her own as Hermione replied,

"Yes, of course." They all left the tent, Sirius running in the direction of the fires and a huge, black cloaked mass.

"Let's go!" Harry yelled above all the multitude of noise, and at least two people grabbed her by the arm. There was much confusion, several times a yell of terror would sent them running in a different direction, not sure where the danger would be coming from, and people shoved and fought to keep from being at the back. By the time they were in the woods, the only Weasley with them was Ron.

He let go of her then, and said, "What do we do now? We lost Fred, George, and Ginny!"

"I'm not sure," Hermione admitted, "But Fred and George are older than us, I'm sure they'll all be safe. We should wait here, if we keep moving no one will be able to find us." A particularly bright flame lit up the sky, and they gazed in horror as they watched three Muggles suspended midair being made to do whatever as the 'drunken idiots' cackled.

"It might be better if no one finds us," Harry decided, and they all nodded. It wasn't long before they were deep in the woods. Of course it had to be Malfoy that they ran into, the Slytherin boy insinuating some perfectly vile things that the black robed crowd would do to them.

"What, they can tell who's a Muggleborn and who's a Pure blood just by looking at them?" She asked with a defiant hand on her hip.

"They're drunk beyond recognition, Malfoy. And I'll bet you're scared of them. You're running just like we are," Harry accurately guessed, evidenced by a pink color rising in Malfoy's cheeks.

"Scared? As if," he scoffed, "I'm just trying to escape all of you blood traitors and Mud-bloods." With that, he turned on his heel and stalked out of sight, the four friends glad to be rid of him.

"I swear, if he uses that word one more time—" Ron started, but Hermione placed a hand on his arm.

"There's no point, Ron. Just don't let it bother you."

"I'm not just going to ignore it, Hermione. He's a stupid git."

"I completely agree," Leila said.

"_Mosmorde_!" A third voice added to the night. All four Gryffindors jumped, pulling wands out except—

"Hey! My wand's missing!" Harry exclaimed.

"What?" Leila asked, aghast. Where could it possibly be? Had Harry left it in the tent where it might at that moment be burning as a small piece of kindle?

"Nevermind that, look!" Hermione exclaimed, pointing to the sky, her face bathed in an eerie green glow. Actually everything was tinted green, due to the huge glowing symbol now hanging above to woods. A skull with a snake for its tongue.

"Tha-that's—" Ron stammered.

Several cracks filled the air around them, and a multitude of voices shouted, "_Reducto_!" Leila was not the only one to scream this time, as all four dove to the ground to avoid the jets of red light.

Leila was yanked up by the hood of her sweatshirt, shocked to come face-to-face with Mr. Diggory. To her right, Mr. Crouch had a hold of her brother while a man and a woman had grabbed Ron and Hermione.

"Which of you did it?" Crouch demanded. "Which of you cast the mark?"

"The- what?" Harry asked, bewildered and more than a little scared.

"Stop!" A familiar voice exclaimed, and Leila felt her knees buckle in relief as Mr. Weasley came rushing through the trees, Sirius close on his heels. "Stop, they're just children!" At the livid expression on her godfather's face, Mr. Diggory let go of her, and Leila sagged against her twin who had also been released.

"Er, sorry Arthur, Mr. Black," Diggory began, "But the Mark—" he started to raise his hand in indication of the floating symbol, but Sirius cut him off with a scathing remark.

"Yes, we can see it. What I'd like to ask is what were you doing accusing children who were barely alive when it was created of casting it?" While Diggory wilted under the hard gray stare, Crouch stayed resolute.

"They were right under it and unsupervised. The law will not stop for children, Black."

"We're all under the bloody thing! Your law stops for little, Crouch."

"Gentlemen, please!" Mr. Weasley cut in as the two glared at each other. "We should try figuring things out. Ron, Harry, Leila, Hermione, did any of you see or hear something strange before the Mark appeared?"

"Yes, Mr. Weasley," Hermione responded, "Right before someone over there that we couldn't see said something—I think it was a spell. We couldn't see the person, though." Immediately, Crouch sent a couple men to check the surrounding area, obviously eager to catch the culprit.

But when Mr. Diggory and the others returned with the House Elf from the top box, no one was more surprised than her owner, Mr. Crouch himself. The drama that unfolded almost made Leila want to look away as she watched the creature sob on the ground before her master and interrogator. Hermione was shaking with suppressed rage and her fists were clenched. While she was indignant on behalf of her brother for having his wand stolen, she didn't really blame Winky. It was clear to anyone with half a brain she would never want a wand. And yet she was fired anyway.

They parted at the edge of the woods, Sirius wanting to take the Potters home immediately, stating that Crouch's so-called security was a farce. They exchanged relieved hugs with the other Weasleys who were happy they were all unharmed.

Though Sirius perhaps was being a little overdramatic in his display of hate for Crouch, Leila was happy to collapse back onto her bed at the house, physically exhausted. But her mind kept her up all night with worries and fears and all kinds of nerves.

**I'll end it here. I think I've put in enough work on this for Christmas Day. Happy Holidays to everyone, and thank you for reading. Don't forget a review!**


	18. Chapter 18: Girl Trip

**Sorry for the long wait. I usually try to balance updating, but I was at the end of one of my Fullmetal Alchemist stories, so that kind of consumed everything else. Thanks for all the feedback for the last chapter, I really appreciate it!**

**Dobby's Polka-Dotted Sock**

**Chapter Eighteen:**

**Girl-Trip**

"This looks ridiculous," Leila announced to the group, and stuck her tongue out at the reflection of Harry in the mirror before her, as he was busy trying to stifle his laughter.

"I don't know what to tell you, Leila," Sirius defended, "That's the type of thing my relatives had in their closets for fancy occasions."

"How old were your relatives?" She shot back, and this time Remus was the one laughing, though Sirius didn't look offended in the least.

"Point taken," he admitted. They left her to disentangle herself from the mass of fabric calling itself a dress robe. Leila didn't even know why she needed such a thing, anyway. Hogwarts had never required formal wear before, so what made this year any different?

Sirius and Remus knew, but they were keeping tight-lipped about it as it was supposed to be a surprise. Needless to say, she and Harry were nearly going mad with impatience. Would it really hurt just to tell them?

"You know, I'd been meaning to call in on Andromeda," Sirius was saying to Remus when she joined them in the living room. "Her little girl's all grown up now. Maybe Nymphy will know what's actually in fashion for these things."

"She might," Remus agreed.

OoO

Sirius took Leila with him to call on the one cousin who actually wished to speak with him. Harry was staying behind, as he still had homework to complete, which Leila had rubbed in as much as possible. She felt she understood perhaps why Hermione always finished her homework as early as possible.

The Tonks' home was decent-sized, with a pond in the front yard. Sirius rang the bell and the door was opened shortly by a young woman a few years her senior, with shoulder-length brown hair and Sirius' gray eyes. She supposed it was a family trait.

"You must be Nymphadora," Sirius said, "It's been awhile."

"Yeah," Nymphadora Tonks agreed, though her smile seemed more like a grimace in reaction to her name. Leila couldn't blame her, it sounded like a rather unfortunate choice.

They were led into the front room, where a woman with slightly darker hair and more of Sirius' features stood from an armchair to greet them.

"Sirius," she said warmly, and allowed her cousin to embrace her. She then turned and shook Leila's hand. "You have no idea how happy I am to see this day."

"I won't try to imagine it; I'm too busy being glad to see you again." The plan was for Nymphadora to take Leila to Diagon Alley to look for the dreaded dress robe while Sirius and Andromeda caught up, so Leila followed her shopping companion through the fireplace to the Leakey Cauldron. Nymphadora was standing up from the floor when Leila stepped through, obviously having crashed upon entry.

"Can never get that right," the older girl was muttering as she brushed herself off.

"Should we get going?" Leila asked.

"Yeah, but first thing's first; you should check for your money. Sometimes it can fall out in the Floo."

"Oh right," Leila replied, checking for and finding the little purse Sirius had given her in her front pocket.

"It's important to keep track of your money. Always put them in either a front pants pocket or an inside coat pocket." She nodded at the advice, then remembered the fright they had had when Harry had lost his wand.

"Should I put my wand in a front pocket, too?" She asked, pulling it out of the back pocket she usually kept it in. Nymphadora paused, then grinned as she nodded.

"If you don't have a holster, then yes. Good thinking. This might be more fun than I thought, sort-of-cousin-of-mine." Leila then watched in surprise and a little bit of awe as the older girl's hair shortened and turned a bright, bubblegum pink before her very eyes. "I'm a Metamorphagous; means I can change my appearance at will. Useful for when I visit my mum."

"Well, that's handy I suppose," Leila said after a moment.

"Sure is. The name's Tonks, Auror-in-Training."

"Leila Potter, fourth-year at Hogwarts."

OoO

Madam Malkin seemed almost overjoyed at the fact she had a customer who needed something other than a school uniform.

"I'm not sure why the school's requiring dress robes, but I won't question it," the woman said, retrieving a tape measure. Leila stood, arms held out to either side, on a stool when she thought of something.

"Hey Tonks, you're going to be an Auror. You know what's going on at the school this year, don't you?" But the older one only grinned from her seat.

"Nice try, but my lips are sealed. If my cousin isn't going to tell you, who am I to ruin the surprise?" She only laughed when Leila pouted.

"I think a deep blue, navy, might look best. It's a shame you don't have those green eyes, I could really do something with that. But hazel will look fine with the blue." Madam Malkin left to look for fabric in the back room, but Tonks was still there to see the look on Leila's face.

"Ouch," the older girl offered.

"Must be nice being a Metamorphagous," Leila said as she stepped down from the stool, only to sit on it instead. "You'd look good in anything."

"If I wanted," Tonks agreed. "But I wouldn't want to be a scrawny, flat-chested, half-blind teenage boy. And I don't think you want to be, either."

She tried to stay sullen and moody, she really did; but this comment from a young woman she had just gotten to know still managed to make her lips twitch into a smile. Then a snort escaped. And finally she was laughing, and Tonks was laughing with her.

OoO

"How's the essay coming?" she asked sweetly, but Harry saw through her ruse and only grumbled. "That's a shame."

"Like you care," he accused and she only smiled in return. "How was your girl-trip or whatever?"

"Actually, fun. Tonks' is great. She said if I ever have to escape from you, Sirius, and Remus, then I can crash on the couch in her apartment."

"Sounds great," he replied, obviously still grumpy due to the essay. She gave a rather exaggerated smile, and pretended not to notice the hopeful glance he shot her.

"You want some help on that?"

"Yes, please," he said gratefully, moving over on the couch to give her room.

"Ugh, History of Magic," Leila said, looking at the parchment. "Ok, I think there was something in chapter six about this. If not, we can check the index."

"Good idea," he said and they got to work. Harry had only read a few lines on the page before he said, "Hey Leila?"

"Yeah, Harry?"

"If you went to live on Tonks' couch, I'd miss you."

"I'd miss you, too."

OoO

This was perhaps the most shocking Start of Term Feast she had ever witnessed. Some crazy old man who looked like a walking horror film was the new Defense professor, Quidditch was cancelled, only to be replaced by something called a Tri-Wizard Tournament, and they would be hosting students from foreign wizarding schools. There were foreign wizarding schools?

"What do you reckon?" Harry asked their group of friends as they all headed for the Gryffindor Common Room.

"That this is going to be a great educational opportunity," Hermione started.

"That the Tournament sounds bloody brilliant," Ron offered.

"That they've really pulled out all the stops to make this year crazier than all the rest," Leila put her two cents in.

"Yeah, me too," he replied. "I can't help but feel a little nervous though. I'm not sure why."

"Don't worry about it, mate," Ron said, putting a hand on his friend's shoulder. "This is Dumbledore. If he thought the Tournament was bad news, he wouldn't be having it, would he?"

"I guess not," Harry said.

"And they've added all sorts of rules and safety precautions, so it'll be nothing like the old Tournaments," Hermione added, confident as ever in authority.

"That's true."

"I don't know, I just think it'll be nice to see some other people run around on adventures for once," Leila said. "Just don't volunteer for anything, and you've got nothing to worry about."

They had reached the Common Room and it was time for the boys and girls to separate.

"You're all right," Harry finally said. "I guess this year really will just be fun, huh?"

"That's the spirit," Hermione said. "Now we should all turn in, since classes still do start tomorrow."

"Ugh, you see Harry? Nothing's different," Ron said, and Hermione crossed her arms in annoyance.

"Well I'm just saying we should all get some rest so—"

"Ok then, good night guys," Leila said, taking Hermione by the arm and heading for the girls' staircase, Harry doing likewise with Ron.

"G'night."

**Well, next will be the arrival of the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students, and then the start of the Tournament. Thanks so much for the feedback on the last few chapters, I really appreciate. Hope you enjoyed this one, and please review!**


	19. Chapter 19: Set Up

**Sorry again for the long wait. I just seem to start and stop with this story a lot. Hopefully now that the filler-y summer chapters are done it will be more continuous. I'm not throwing the towel in on this story yet! Thanks for all of your feedback, I know some people have mentioned that I tend to skim stuff, but I did that mostly to get to the later years where things start to become different. I'll try and focus in on things more now. On to the chapter!**

**Dobby's Polka-Dotted Sock**

**Chapter Nineteen:**

**Set Up**

"How long have we been standing out here, Hermione?"

"It's only been ten minutes. You should have brought your scarf if you were going to get cold, Leila," the other girl scolded, then quickly turned back to face the teachers as McGonagall swept the students with a reproachful gaze, ending all conversation. Leila wanted to point out that she had been too busy extracting her friend from the library bookshelves, but decided not to actively disobey the Deputy Headmistress so early in the year.

Leila did feel, however, that with all the magic in the world these two other schools could at least manage to be on time. Really, were they just trying to build some kind of suspense or something?

She was answered when one of the younger Ravenclaws screamed and pointed to the sky. Something was hurtling across the twilight expanse—a house, no a carriage, a carriage with a dozen flying horses. It was something out of the fairy tale books, both beautifully grand and stunningly impressive. With a thunder of hooves and wheels, the carriage landed, but it was only the first surprise.

"Woah," she heard Seamus Finnegan mutter from somewhere behind her as the largest woman to ever be seen stepped from out of the carriage. Leila would have believed the transport to have only been for the woman if not for the dozen girls who followed after her. Collectively, it seemed, all of the older boys practically licked their chops as girl after girl came to stand in a perfect straight line behind their Headmistress. She almost wanted to roll her eyes at the show-offs.

"My dear Madam Maxime," Professor Dumbledore spoke, coming forward to embrace the large Frenchwoman.

" 'eadmaster Dumblydoor, eet is good to see you," said the Madam, bending a little to accommodate his shorter stature. It was somewhat amusing to see Professor Dumbledore as shorter than someone other than Hagrid. And speaking of the Care of Magical Creatures teacher, he was paying far more attention to Madam Maxime than the horses. Leila felt a grin spreading across her face at the sight of her large friend being obviously smitten with the Beauxbatons Headmistress.

"We have only left to wait for Igor," the silver-bearded man told her, and Maxime pursed her lips almost in a pout.

" 'ee truly is one for the dramatics." No sooner had the large woman spoken, several students closest to the lake gasped or shrieked in surprise. Standing on her toes and hopping every few seconds, Leila was able to see a large whirlpool swirling in the usually calm lake, and something long and wooden was beginning to protrude from it.

"Oh!" Hermione exclaimed in both shock and recognition as the wooden object turned out to be a mast attached to a large, ghostly looking ship rising from the depths. The Durmstrang delegation had arrived. She heard a few of the girls, mostly the older ones, tittering at the sight of the foreign boys, but nothing prepared her for the gasps and exclamations from the boys. In particular, Ron.

"That's—bloody _hell_, that's Viktor Krum!" The redhead had a vice-like grip on her brother's arm, who was also looking stunned. Leila couldn't blame either of them, for the sight was almost surreal; just months ago they had all watched the Bulgarian zoom around on a Firebolt in the largest Quidditch stadium ever built, the crowds roaring his name. But now, here he was.

They didn't get too long to gawk, however, as Igor Karkarroff the Durmstrang Headmaster demanded that Krum be taken inside to get out of the cold evening air.

"Never mind we've been standing in it a good half hour," Leila couldn't stop herself from grumbling. Sure, it was aweing to see such a famous figure, but Harry never let anyone baby him like that and he was far more famous than any Quidditch star. More deserving of his fame, too.

"Shh!" Hermione hissed at her impatiently, but not bothering to look as she followed the Durmstrang delegation with her eyes. Leila pouted somewhat childishly, but remained silent as her friend wanted. Dumbledore turned, and gestured for the teachers to follow, the Heads of Houses organizing the students once more into neat, practically marching, lines. Perhaps the two visiting schools had made impressive entrances, but they were on Hogwarts' grounds and the castle's inhabitants were not to be outdone.

OoO

"Well, how do you like that." Leila glanced up to see Ernie Macmillian standing nearby with Justin Finch-Fletchley and Dean Thomas. The three boys were in the aisle between the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw tables, watching the Ravenclaw Quidditch Captain Roger Davies chat up a particularly buxom Beauxbatons student.

"I don't understand it," Dean was saying, "Professor Dumbledore told us to get to know the other schools, but how can we do that if they just ignore us?" Her housemate had a point; so far, the foreign students had only sat and talked with the Ravenclaw and Slytherin students, something that made Ron as mad as Malfoy was smug.

"Maybe it's for the best," Justin commented, "I wouldn't know what to say to one of them anyway. I mean, how do you even begin a conversation with them?"

"Same as you do with a normal person, I expect," she couldn't help from remarking, and they turned to see her.

"Oh really?" Ernie challenged, crossing his arms, "If it's so easy, why aren't you trying it?"

She realized she was being called on it and sighed, shoveling the last of her breakfast in her mouth and swallowing. "All right, who do you want me to get you for your next Hogsmeade date?"

Dean shook his head, smiling, Justin stared wide-eyed, but Ernie scoffed.

"That's easy enough. You're a girl. Girls know how to talk to girls. No, if you're really serious about this, you're going to have to talk to—" his eyes began scanning the Slytherin table, before finally halting on a very prominent figure. "Viktor Krum."

Leila hoped her gulp wasn't that noticeable. "Krum?" She repeated. "The Quidditch star?"

"That's right," Ernie was smirking now, certain of his victory. Well that wouldn't do.

"Fine. I'll be back," She stood, slinging her bag over her shoulder, and walked past Ernie who spluttered.

"You—what? Hey, wait- I didn't mean—Potter, get back here!"

She told herself that it would just look pathetic to turn back at that point, so she walked steadily down the aisle, turned right and right again into the Slytherin aisle, and continued to where Krum was seated. Two of his friends were across from him and all three were listening to something Malfoy was telling them. Boy did he look different, face all lit up and animated, happy for Godric's sake. The transformation was as different as whenever he sucked up to a teacher. It made her sick thinking of how fake it was.

Perhaps it was that anger now boiling in her stomach that caused Leila to simply drop into the empty space on Viktor Krum's right and begin talking.

"Hello there, how're you liking Hogwarts so far?" Best to just dive in and all that. Krum turned to her quizzically, while Malfoy leaned almost comically forward to catch sight of the intruder. When he recognized her, his jaw dropped, mouth working silently for once. Krum, however, spoke.

"It iz- very nice. You are?"

"Oh, well I'm—"

"Potter!" Malfoy had regained the use of his vocal chords. It truly was a shame. "What are you—this is the Slytherin table you stupid—do you know who—"

"I'm not blind, Malfoy, I can see he's Viktor Krum," she found it easier to make it sound casual when she was arguing with the Slytherin boy. She turned back towards Krum, blocking out Malfoy's sounds of protest. "Saw you at the World Cup, actually. Bloody brilliant, even if you were bleeding all over the place."

"Zank you," he replied, still seeming a little confused, as though working out how she had suddenly dropped into place at this table. "Potter, you say?"

Oh. She supposed the last name possibly was famous abroad as well. "Yes, that's my name. Leila Potter, I'm Harry—"

Malfoy cut off the usual introduction again with "Potter!"

Leila sighed, somewhat exasperated with his repetitiveness, and faced him. "Yes, what now Malfoy?" But she realized the blond was not actually looking at her. Instead, he seemed to be calling for help from her brother, who had entered the Great Hall late with Ron. Harry glanced over and she watched, almost amused, as he took in the scene and his eyes widened in comical horror behind his glasses. Pretty soon, he and Ron had covered the distance to the table.

"Tell your sister to leave our table!" Malfoy hissed at Harry, who was clearly pinning her with his famous look that silently asked "Why? Why are you doing this to me?". She shrugged at her twin.

"You could have just asked me, Malfoy, I'll leave if you think you'll get Gryffindor cooties or some other rubbish." She stood and grabbed her bag. "Say goodbye to the nice Quidditch player, Ron," she couldn't help but tease as her red-haired friend could only stare at the sportsman in awe.

"Oh! Um, er—"

"Nice chatting with you," she said, giving a cheery wave. Malfoy's glare only intensified as Krum's two buddies chuckled a little, but then Harry dragged her off.

"C'mon, Hermione's in the library," he muttered, face blazing red as a Weasley as they hurried from the Hall.

"What could she possibly be studying already?" Leila asked and Ron actually managed a snicker, which was good. Awareness seemed to be returning to him. They had almost escaped when—

"Potter!"

Both turned, but upon facing the Potions Master, it was obvious by his cold gaze who he was talking to. She wasn't sure how Malfoy got his Head of House to materialize so quickly, but she wanted to hex the sneers off both of their faces.

"Yes? Sir?" She added when he did not immediately respond.

"Detention and ten points from Gryffindor for disrupting the morning meal." Merlin, Malfoy looked so smug she thought he might start preening at any moment. Krum was watching the whole thing, his features contemplative, while Leila merely rolled her eyes.

"Whatever you say, sir," she replied, feeling some small satisfaction when Snape scowled at her 'arrogant attitude' as he would no doubt put it. Maybe Sirius and the others had gone a little too far with their pranks in the past, but the git made it impossible to feel any sort of pity.

Leila turned and almost bumped into Ernie on her way out the door. Her mood having taken quite the downturn, she merely pointed her finger in the Hufflepuff's face, warning, "You owe me." Those three words alone made a sheen of sweat break out on the boy's face as he gulped.

OoO

"I can't _believe_ you actually did something that stupid," Hermione muttered quietly as they followed her up and down shelves. The bushy brunette would grab a book, examine it, and then either discard it or add it to the increasing pile.

"You know me, Hermione," Leila grinned, only a little sheepish, at her friend who simply clucked her tongue while still smiling slightly.

"Well," the other girl paused a moment, before asking, "What was he like? In person?"

"Not much of a conversationalist, truth be told," she replied, "Probably why he sits with Malfoy all the time, all the git ever does is talk."

"This is probably his second language, Leila," Hermione reminded her. "I'm sure it must be very difficult and strange to adjust. But also very exciting. I should wonder—"

"Hey Hermione, I thought you were taking less classes this year," Ron suddenly interrupted from behind them. Neither girl had realized they'd left the boys trailing behind. "What's with all the books, then?"

"I am taking less classes than last year, but that means I can catch up on all the extra reading I neglected," Hermione explained.

"Of course," Ron groaned.

"Cheers," Harry grinned, shaking his head in both resignation and disbelief of their friend's literary habits.

"So Ron, how are Fred and George recovering from the Age Potion mishap?" Leila asked, all four laughing a little at the memory of the Weasley twins with white, fluffy beards.

"Oh, they'll be fine. Madam Pomfrey got it all sorted out, you know."

"That's good, I'm not sure what your mother would have done," Harry remarked, sending them all into another bout of giggles that had Madam Pince looking up sharply from the front desk.

"At least now they know they don't have to worry about growing bald in old age," Leila finally managed to whisper after reigning in her laughter for the time being.

They were shooed from the library and sent off the their first class shortly after.

OoO

The whole Hall was buzzing with excitement, but even the foreign students remained completely still and quiet. Professor Dumbledore received the attention of everyone, as per usual. But the true focus of the evening, the object that drew every eye, was the flickering blue falmes of the Goblet of Fire. It blazed to life then, a piece of paper shooting out and slowly floating on tiny air currents to the Headmaster's outstretched hand.

"The Durmstrang Champion: Viktor Krum"

Hardly a surprise, that one. Even still, she applauded the Bulgarian along with the rest of the Great Hall's current inhabitants.

"The Beauxbatons Champion: Fleur Delacour"

She clapped politely even as a super model of a girl stood from the Ravenclaw bench and quite literally strutted into the adjacent room. The attention of every male was completely on her, and boy did she know it. She heard several of her female housemates scoff a little, but Leila eagerly looked up as the third and final parchment was issued from the Goblet.

"The Hogwarts Champion: Cedric Diggory"

Well, not a terribly bad choice of representative. She gave Angelina a sympathetic shrug all the same; it would have been wicked to have Gryffindor represent. But perhaps it was the Hufflepuffs' time to shine.

The Hall had erupted into frantic discussions on the Champions and the Tournament, ranging from any list of topics. She herself turned to engage Harry in conversation but as a result saw the flash of red from the Goblet reflected in the lenses of his glasses. Whirling around, Leila heard the whole room hush as Dumbledore reached out, almost hesitant, and plucked the parchment from the air.

"Harry Potter."

**So it took me quite a few months, but there's the chapter for you. I'm hoping that showed some more interaction between Leila and the other characters, and of course now the Tournament's set up. I'm hoping you all stick around for the next chapters, because I've been dying to write them since I started this whole thing. Thanks for reading, and please review!**


	20. Chapter 20: Caught

**Wow, wasn't expecting a response so soon, but thanks! Not much else to say except on with the fic!**

**Dobby's Polka-Dotted Sock**

**Chapter Twenty:**

**Caught**

She could feel Harry tense as Professor Dumbledore pronounced his name, and the shock and horror on his face was like a sharp slap. Especially in contrast to the looks forming on everyone else's faces. How had it happened.

"Harry Potter." It was a demand now, more urgent than perform, and that brought her twin to action. Harry stood stiffly, walking up the aisle to the Head Table. Why was everyone sending him those dirty looks? Couldn't they see something had gone horribly wrong? She wanted to get up and follow, but the solemn expressions on the teacher's faces gave her pause, and so Leila watched as Harry entered the antechamber off to the side alone.

"Prefects, take the students back to their dormitories," Dumbledore ordered, voice still calm, but with a slight undertone of unease. With that, he swept with Maxime, Karkarrof, Crouch, Bagman, McGonagall, Snape, and even Moody after her brother. The Great Hall came alive with tremendous noise as soon as the door closed, thunderous voices all shouting out to and above each other.

"Leila?" Hermione was standing by her side, waiting for the other girl to rise.

"I—what?" She shook her head, trying to concentrate amid all the sound and her own racing thoughts.

"We need to go back, now," the brown-haired girl patiently reminded her. Most of the students were shuffling about the giant oak doors, waiting for their turn in the traffic jam.

"Where's—Ron?" That question suddenly hit with such force, and she turned her head this way and that, trying to spot the familiar mop of red that indicated their friend.

"He left as soon as Dumbledore said, I'm not sure why," Hermione told her, a small frown tugging at her lips. "But we should—"

"You go ahead, Hermione," Leila decided, "I'll wait for Harry."

"Are you sure?" Hermione looked torn between staying behind as well, or doing as the Headmaster requested.

"Sure, I'll be fine." She tried to give a convincing smile, but the way her friend would glance back worriedly at her every few paces, Leila was sure she had failed at it.

Soon the Hall, and even the Entrance Hall beyond were silent, and Leila waited alone at the long Gryffindor table. She became so used to the solitude that when the antechamber door banged open and Bartiemus Crouch stormed out, she almost jumped. Still, Leila leapt from her seat and into the man's path.

"Mr. Crouch, please—"

"Stand aside, young lady," Crouch interrupted dismissively.

"You don't understand, I'm Harry's sister, I just want to know—"

Crouch sighed almost theatrically, cutting her off again. "Mr. Potter will be competing in the Tournament.

Leila was sure she looked absolutely gob smacked. "What? But that's insane! He didn't even—"

"Regardless of whether Mr. Potter broke the rules or not, he must compete as a Triwizard Champion. Now if you will excuse me Ms. Potter, goodnight." Mr. Crouch finished tersely and hurried off just as before. Leila hadn't liked the man when Mr. Weasley had introduced them to him during the World Cup, but now she quite possibly loathed him. Making Harry compete in a Tournament for seventh years? How was he expected to survive?

"Merlin's beard," she gasped out loud, one hand landing over her rapidly beating heart. Hermione had said that people died in previous Tournaments. What if—

No, she had to push that from her mind. But what else could she think about, all by herself in a Great empty Hall? She needed- needed—

Sirius, Sirius and Remus, they would know what to do. They had to. Before she had even finished the thought Leila was racing up the stairs to the Owlery, her bag swinging at her side. When she finally burst through the door at the top of the tower's spiral staircase, she had to stop and take deep gulps of the mostly fresh night air. Not many owls were still there, but that was fine. She was sure Hedwig would come when needed, just like she always did. So Leila settled down with ink, parchment, and quill to write.

_ Sirius and Remus,_

_ Something awful has happened. The Champions for the Tournament were chosen tonight, but the Goblet spit out four names instead of three, and the fourth name was Harry's! I know he couldn't have entered it himself, but Mr. Crouch is saying that he still has to compete. But that's insane! Harry's only a 4th year, and Hermione said the Tournament used to kill loads of 7th years in the past. What if he gets really hurt or—_

_ I don't know what to do._

_ Leila_

When she looked up from the shaky script, sure enough, Hedwig swooped down landing on the straw-strewn floor beside her.

"Hey girl," Leila muttered softly, taking some comfort in stroking the snowy white feathers. Hedwig, as if sensing her distress, hooted calmly, and nibbled a little on her finger. Leila smiled, then sighed and set to work tying the letter to the owl's leg. "Make sure this gets to Sirius and Remus as fast as you can, girl." Hedwig hooted again and took off, growing distant in the inky sky, blending with the stars.

OoO

When she finally returned to the Gryffindor Common Room, it had the appearance of a roughly aborted party. People were standing around talking, some even laughing, but most were shooting occasional glances up the boys' staircase. Neither Harry nor Ron was in sight.

"Leila," Neville called to her as she made her way to the stairs. "I wouldn't go up there if I were you. Ron was in a pretty bad mood when I saw him earlier, and Harry looks like he's in a right state."

"Of course he's in a state!" Leila snapped, then regretted it as Neville ducked his head, prominent ears flushed scarlet. "Sorry Neville," she muttered, not waiting to see him nod in acceptance of the apology before bounding up the stairs two at a time. Slightly out of breath, she paused outside the fourth years' dorm, listening for anything, but hearing nothing. So she knocked twice and opened the door.

"Harry? Ron? You both in here?" What she saw in the dimly lit room was Ron's curtains drawn around his bed and Harry sitting with his back to both it and the door, head in his hands. He turned to meet her concerned gaze and she could read the distress in his wide eyes and wild hair, as though he had run a hand through it a few times.

"Er, hi. What is it?" He finally asked, though his voice wavered some.

"I wanted to check on you. I heard from Mr. Crouch that—but you can't be—"

"They're making me do it. The Tournament," Harry replied, and nervous fingers found the rumpled black locks again.

"I can't believe it!" She picked her way over trunks, clothes, and the odd textbook or so and sat next to him on his four-poster. "Do they even know how your name got in there?"

"No," Harry replied, the word clipped. His tone became bitter as he continued, "Although _some people_ seem to think I put it in myself on purpose." He shot a dark look over his shoulder at Ron's curtains.

There was a pause, and then the muffled voice of their friend replied sullenly, "I can hear you, you know."

"Sorry," Harry replied, not sounding very apologetic at all. "Thought you were asleep."

"Well, since you're not," Leila broke in, feeling a sort of unease tugging at her insides at the way the two friends were speaking, "why not pull back the curtains so we can actually talk to you."

"No thank you, Leila." He was being perfectly polite, but their voice a coldness in Ron's voice that made in turn to Harry in confusion.

"Ron thinks I put my name in the Goblet," Harry explained, and she felt her jaw drop.

"No!" She whirled back around to face her other friend's curtains again. "Oh come on, Ron. You think he'd actually—"

"We were talking about it," Ron pointed out, still not emerging.

"Yeah, as a joke! Like how Malfoy tells those stupid stories about evading helicopters on his broom or something. Harry wasn't being serious!"

"And yet, he's a Champion."

"That doesn't mean I did it!" Harry burst out, anger quickly replacing worry as his primary emotion. "Stop being thick!"

"Harry!" She couldn't help but scold. How would calling Ron thick solve anything?

"Curfew," the fifth year Prefect said from the open doorway. He sent a pointed look in Leila's direction, who huffed impatiently before standing to take her leave.

She stopped in the stairwell, pausing to look back through the door. "Don't—just get some sleep. Both of you, alright?" This was ridiculous, how could Ron think that? She was sure it was a misunderstanding, something they could clear up in the morning.

When Leila returned to the Common Room, she found plenty of her housemates still hanging around. She planned to just turn and head for the girl's staircase, but was stopped by Fred reaching an arm around her shoulders.

"Alright, Leila, your brother won't spill the beans so tell us: how'd he manage it?" George materialized along with Lee Jordan on her other side, all three boys looking eager to hear it.

"He didn't—" she began tersely, but stopped upon seeing the doubtful glances being sent their way. "Look," she started again, "we don't know how Harry's name got put in the Goblet, but Harry didn't put it there."

"Well, Ernie was saying Harry—" Dean started quietly and her temper flared.

"Macmillian said second year that I was the Heir of Slytherin and Harry was my mind slave, do you believe that, too?"

Dean had the decency to blush. "No, sorry."

"Harry didn't ask for this to happen. And I don't really know what, if anything, he said to you all, but we appreciate the sentiment." She gestured to the banners that had been quickly assembled in the wake of the shocking news.

Fred gave her shoulder a squeeze and then released her. "Sure thing, Leila."

"Yeah, Harry was only a little grumpy with us, but no harm done," George elaborated.

"We believe him," Lee finished simply.

"I'll admit that I was a little disappointed, but whatever the circumstance, at least we have a Gryffindor in the competition," Angelina commented with a grin usually reserved for pre-game.

"Well, thanks. For the support, I mean. Er, goodnight." The eyes of the Common Room inhabitants were beginning to make her just a little uncomfortable. She quickly retreated to the dormitory, gaining some small comfort when she found Hermione curled up like usual with a large book. They could do this.

OoO

_Leila,_

_That really is terrible news. I'm setting up a meeting with Professor Dumbledore right away to discuss what happened. More specifically, what went wrong. If there's a loophole to this Magical Contract rubbish, we'll find it. Keep your head up, Harry will be fine._

_Sirius_

_P.S. There could potentially be some pretty nasty backlash against Harry for this, which is entirely undeserved. Try and keep it from getting either of you down. Keep your friends close._

_Remus_

Keep her friends close? Well, she had already screwed that up. Hermione had been leaving the Hall as she entered, still with toast in her hands. Probably off to the library again. She didn't think the girl was ignoring her, but Leila still felt a little lost.

Ron, on the other hand, had most certainly ignored her hello, even if he was surrounded by Dean, Seamus, and Neville. It hurt, more than anything else in the last twenty-four hours.

"The Whimsy Witzes, I expect," Luna Lovegood's airy tone sounded to her left, and Leila jumped, snapping her head up from Sirius and Remus' letter to see the Ravenclaw third year.

"Merlin, Luna! Don't do that."

"Good morning, Leila. How's your brother today?"

"He was asleep, didn't wake him," Leila replied. "And what did you mean by the—sorry, the what?"

"The Whimsy Witzes. They're little creatures that delight in practical jokes. Misplacing items, switching around objects, little things like that. I pretty sure that's how your brother's name got in the Goblet," the blonde happily explained.

"Er, sure," Leila replied. She turned back to her plate just in time to find Ron's gaze on her. He looked away pointedly, shoveling the rest of his breakfast in his mouth, and standing to leave the Great Hall. This was stupid.

"Ron! Hey, Ron, wait up!" She hurried after him, catching him in the Entrance Hall, though he still hadn't acknowledged her. "Will you cut it out?"

"Cut what out?" he grumbled finally, looking at her from his peripheral vision.

"You know what I mean. This isn't the Burrow and we're not five. So tell me why you're mad."

"I'm not—Harry—his name—bloody Goblet," Ron couldn't seem to find the right words, starting and discarding every sentence. She tried not to let her annoyance show.

"You can't actually believe Harry put his name in the Goblet, can you?" She finally tried.

"Course I—"

"Leila?" The two looked up to see Harry and Hermione, who had come in from the grounds. Harry had just been finishing off a piece of toast, but was stopped with a hurt look on his face. If she didn't know better, she would almost believe a knife really was stabbing him in the back. "Why are you—" he couldn't seem to finish, breaking off to scowl at Ron, who bristled and glowered back.

"Oh bloody hell," Leila muttered.

"What, can't she talk to whoever she wants?" Ron demanded, "Or does the Champion require permission?" Before Harry could reply in kind, Ron stormed off up the stairs.

"Ron!" Hermione called after him, but the redhead paid no heed. "Harry, I'm sure—"

"It doesn't matter, I've got homework to do," her brother cut off their friend and left equally upset. Hermione looked at her helplessly for a moment before following after.

She'd only been trying to patch things up. How had everything spiraled so out of control with one tiny slip of paper?

**I'm going to stop here for the chapter. Will the Friend Feud continue? Thanks for reading, and please review!**


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